Columbia  ©ntoergitp 

in  tde  Cttp  of  Jleto  §*orfc 


LIBRARY 


CATHOLIC   EDUCATION 


$ermi0su  Sttperiorum. 

A.  MORRISSEY,  CJ3.C, 

Provincial. 

Wt&il  ©fistat. 

ARTHUR  J.  SCANLAN, 

Censor  Librorum. 

Imprimatur. 

*    JOHN  CARDINAL  FARLEY, 

Archbishop  of  New  York 


New  York,  October  1st,  1917. 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

A  STUDY    OF   CONDITIONS 


BY 

Rev.  J.  A.  BURNS,  C.S.C.,  Ph.D. 

Author  of  "Origin  and  Establishment  of  the  Catholic  School  System"; 
"  Growth  and  Development  of  the  Catholic  School  System  " 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    CO 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30th  ST.,  NEW  YORK 
39  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON 

BOMBAY,  CALCUTTA,  AND  MADRAS 

1917 


; 


If-.S16 


Copyright,  1917 

BY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  AND  CO. 


PREFACE 

It  has  been  my  purpose  in  this  work  to  describe 
the  condition  of  Catholic  education  in  the  United 
States  at  the  present  time,  and  to  direct  attention 
to  the  problems  that  must  be  solved  in  order  to 
insure  its  future  progress.  After  a  survey  of  the 
general  condition  of  Catholic  education,  its  funda- 
mental principles  are  examined  from  the  stand- 
point of  religion  and  morality,  as  well  as  of  modern 
psychology.  The  relations — ideal  and  actual — of 
the  several  departments  of  Catholic  educational 
activity  to  each  other  are  next  discussed.  A 
special  study  is  then  made  of  each  of  these  depart- 
ments, including  grade  schools,  high  schools  for 
boys,  high  schools  for  girls,  colleges  and  sem- 
inaries. 

The  book  is  intended  primarily  for  Catholics, 
but  I  have  also  had  in  mind  non-Catholics  who  are 
desirous  of  being  fully  informed  about  Catholic 
education — its  aims  and  methods,  its  problems 
and  difficulties,  its  achievements  and  future  pros- 
pects. Such  readers  will,  I  think,  be  specially  in- 
terested in  noting  the  connection  that  exists  be- 
tween   certain   Catholic    educational  movements 


VI  PREFACE 

and  general  educational  movements  or  tendencies 
of  the  time.  I  am  hopeful  that  the  work,  besides 
contributing  directly  to  the  progress  of  Catholic 
education,  will  thus  help,  in  some  measure,  to 
bring  non-Catholic  Americans  to  a  better  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  the  contribution 
that  Catholics  are  making,  at  such  heavy  cost  and 
sacrifice,  to  the  advancement  of  the  highest  inter- 
ests of  our  common  country. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  a  number  of  kind  friends, 
for  the  practical  assistance  they  rendered  me  in 
preparing  the  work  for  the  press. 

James  A.  Burns,  C.S.C. 

Holy  Cross  College, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Author's  Preface v 

CHAPTER  I 

General  Conditions 

A  Quantitative  View.  Qualitative  Aspect.  Stability 
of  Catholic  School  System i 

CHAPTER  II 

Religious  and  Moral  Teaching 

In  the  Public  Schools.  Religious  Knowledge  is  the 
Most  Important.  Religious  Instruction  and 
Moral  Instruction  Must  go  Hand  in  Hand 15 

CHAPTER  IH 

The  Psychological  Side 

Some  Current  Teachings.    The  Correlation  of  Studies. 

The  Atmosphere  of  the  School 30 

CHAPTER  IV 

Inner  Relations 

Organization.  Cooperation.  Causes  of  Lack  of  Coop- 
eration.   What  Has  Been  Accomplished.    Lines 

of  Future  Progress 48 

vii 


viil  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 
Teaching  the  Children 

PAGE 

The  Diocesan  System.  The  Teaching.  The  Curricu- 
lum.   Keeping  Children  at  School 66 

CHAPTER  VI 

High  Schools  for  Boys 

Number  and  Kind  of  Schools.  Teachers.  Relation  to 
Catholic  Colleges.  Relation  to  Parish  Schools. 
Cost.  Proper  Work  of  the  Catholic  High  School. 
Reorganization  of  the  High  School 88 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Secondary  Education  op  Girls 

Schools  and  Pupils.  Free  High  Schools  for  Girls- 
Quality  of  the  Instruction.  Woman's  Changed 
Position.    Future  Progress in 

CHAPTER  VIII 

College  Growth  and  Tendencies 

Increasing  Enrollment.  Colleges  for  Women.  Uni- 
versity Development.  Preparatory  Departments 
and  Junior  Colleges.  The  Curriculum — Standard- 
ization. Endowment  and  Support.  Freedom  of 
Teaching 126 

CHAPTER  IX 

Inner  College  Problems 
Discipline.    Religion.    The  Teacher 149 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  X 

Seminaries 

Diocesan  and  Religious  Seminaries.  Preparatory  Sem- 
inaries. Government  and  Discipline.  Length  of 
the  Curriculum.  New  Studies.  Seminary  and 
College.    Equipment  and  Support 169 

Bibliography 193 

Index 195 


CATHOLIC   EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  I 

GENERAL  CONDITIONS 
A  Quantitative  View 

Catholic  schools  are  found  in  every  State,  and, 
generally  speaking,  in  number  proportionate  to  the 
Catholic  population.  In  many  of  the  States  they 
antedated  the  public  schools  and  those  of  other 
denominations.  Catholic  education  extends  to  the 
entire  Catholic  cosmopolitan  population.  There 
are  schools  for  Germans,  French,  Italians,  Poles, 
Spanish,  Bohemians,  Lithuanians,  Slovaks,  Greeks, 
Hungarians,  and  Belgians,  besides  schools  for  the 
Indians  and  colored  people.  The  effort  to  care 
educationally  for  these  foreign  nationalities  has 
proceeded  along  a  definite  and  comprehensive 
plan.  Many  religious  teaching  communities  have 
been  formed  for  this  work,  the  latest  being  a  Slovak 
Sisterhood  founded  in  1910,  at  Scranton,  Pa. 

Catholic  education  likewise  undertakes  to 
provide  completely  for  the  development  of  the 


2  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

child,  from  the  beginning  of  formal  school  work 
to  the  completion  of  post-graduate  studies.  It 
embraces  kindergarten  and  elementary  school, 
high  school,  college  and  university.  Furthermore, 
two  distinct  types  of  institutions  for  both  secondary 
and  higher  education  are  maintained,  for  co- 
education does  not  exist  in  Catholic  colleges  or 
universities,  and  in  secondary  education  it  is  found 
only  in  the  smaller  schools. 

There  were  1,456,206  pupils  in  the  5488  Catholic 
elementary  schools  in  the  United  States  in  the 
year  19 15.  Elementary  pupils  in  Catholic  high 
schools  and  academies  would  make  an  addition  of 
about  90,000  to  this  number.  Pupils  in  orphan 
asylums  are  not  included.1  About  36,000  teachers 
were  engaged  in  the  elementary  schools,  nine-tenths 
of  these  being  religious,  belonging  to  275  teaching 
communities.  Male  teachers  numbered  probably 
less  than  one-fifteenth  of  the  total.2 

In  the  same  year,  Catholic  educational  institu- 
tions contained  74,538  pupils  of  secondary  school 
grade.  This  total  was  made  up,  approximately,  of 
17,000  boys  in  colleges,  29,000  pupils  in  high 
schools  attended  by  boys  alone  or  by  both  boys  and 
girls,  and  28,000  pupils  in  girls'  high  schools  or 

1Cath.  Dir.,  1915. 

2  Burns,  Growth  and  Development  of  Cath.  School  System, 
pp.  216,  381. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  3 

academies.1  Altogether,  the  boys  numbered  34,798 
and  the  girls  39,740.  There  were  84  male 
colleges  with  secondary-school  pupils,  599  high 
schools  containing  boys,  and  577  academies  for 
girls — making  a  total  of  nearly  1300  institutions 
carrying  on  instruction  of  secondary  grade. 

In  the  84  male  colleges  engaged  in  collegiate 
work,  there  were  found  enrolled,  in  the  year  1916, 
14,846  students  of  collegiate  grade.2  In  the  col- 
leges for  girls,  there  were  at  least  1000  collegiate 
students.3 

An  interesting  question  is  as  to  the  proportion  of 
Catholic  pupils  who  are  attending  institutions  that 
are  non-Catholic.  In  the  case  of  the  elementary 
schools,  investigation  has  shown  that  the  enroll- 
ment in  Catholic  schools  is  not  quite  one-half  of 
what  it  ought  to  be,  or,  in  other  words,  that  about 
the  same  number  of  Catholic  children  go  to  the 
public  schools  as  go  to  Catholic  schools.4  It 
must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  diocesan 

1  Burns,  Cath.  Secondary  Ed.  in  the  U.  S.  (Bull,  of  the 
Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  Aug.,  1915). 

2  Report  on  the  Attendance  at  Cath.  Colleges  and  Uni- 
versities in  the  U.  S.  (Bull,  of  the  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  Aug.,  1916) ; 
cf.  chapter  VIII,  infra. 

3  The  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ed.  for  1014  gives  six  insti- 
tutions, with  a  collegiate  enrollment  of  685.  These  returns 
are  far  from  complete. 

4  Bums,  Growth  and  Development,  p.  356. 


4  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

I  --* 

school  system,  in  some  of  the  great  centers  of 
population,  is  unable  to  accommodate  at  once  the 
vast  numbers  of  Italian  and  other  immigrant 
children  arriving  every  year,  and  that  even  the 
state  school  system  is  unable  to  do  this.  Fur- 
thermore, probably  one-fourth  or  even  one-third 
of  the  entire  number  of  Catholic  children  of 
school  age  live  in  towns,  villages,  or  country  dis- 
tricts in  which  the  Catholic  population  is  so 
small  or  scattered  that  parish  schools  are  im- 
practicable.1 There  are  other  causes  that  lead 
Catholic  children  to  attend  the  public  schools,2 
but  these  two  conditions  offer  the  greatest  ob- 
stacles to  the  systematic  extension  of  the  diocesan 
school  system.  Until  immigration  ceases,  or  at 
least  slackens,  and  until  Catholics  greatly  increase 
in  number  in  the  country  districts  and  smaller 
towns,  it  is  not  likely  that  there  will  be  much 
change  in  the  above  proportion.  Catholic  ele- 
mentary-school enrollment  is  growing  at  a  very 
rapid  pace,  but  it  is  not  growing  faster  than  the 
general  population. 

The  proportionate  enrollment  in  Catholic  sec- 
ondary schools,  in  191 5,  was  somewhat  less  than 
one-third  of  the  secondary-school  enrollment  gen- 
erally in  the  United  States.    While  Catholic  sec- 

lIK  P-357- 
2  IK  p.  358  seq. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  5 

ondary  education  has  shown  a  remarkable  growth 
of  late,  this  growth  has  not  kept  pace  with  that  of 
the  public  high  schools.  The  increase  of  attend- 
ance at  the  latter  has  been  far  more  rapid  than  the 
increase  of  the  population  of  the  country. 

Catholic  male  colleges  and  universities  have 
almost  one-half  of  their  due  proportion  of  col- 
legiate students,  if  we  take  as  a  standard  the 
general  collegiate  enrollment  in  the  country.  The 
growth  of  collegiate  enrollment  in  Catholic  insti- 
tutions of  higher  education  has  been  more  rapid 
than  the  growth  of  the  Catholic  population,  and 
more  rapid,  too,  than  the  general  increase  of  col- 
legiate enrollment  throughout  the  United  States.1 
The  data  upon  which  these  statements  are 
based  may  now  be  summed  up  in  such  a  form  as 
to  render  comparison  the  more  easy  and  accurate. 
The  following  table  shows  the  proportion  of  the 

For  each  10,000  of  respective  population.* 


In  Catholic  institutions... 
In  entire  United  States  §. 


Elementary 
Students. f 


893 
I948 


Secondary 
Students.t 


46 
153 


Students  in 

Higher 
Education.! 


9 
19 


*  For  the  year  1915. 

t  Including  male  and  female  pupils. 

X  Including  only  male  students  (cf.  note  2  on  p.  127). 

§  From  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Education. 


1  Cf.  Chapter  VIII,  infra. 


6  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Catholic  population  that  is  enrolled  in  each  of 
the  above  classes  of  Catholic  institutions,  as  com- 
pared with  the  proportion  of  the  general  popu- 
lation of  the  country  that  is  enrolled  in  all  schools 
or  institutions  of  the  corresponding  class. 

Qualitative  Aspect 

i 

It  is  safe  to  conclude,  from  what  has  been  said, 
that  Catholic  educational  institutions,  elementary, 
secondary,  and  higher,  are  fairly  holding  their  own 
numerically  in  the  general  educational  development 
of  the  country.  But  what  of  the  quality  of  the 
schools  and  the  teaching?  It  is  not  so  easy  to 
institute  a  comparison  here,  for  a  number  of  dis- 
tinct factors  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  Reli- 
gion is  one  of  these,  since,  in  the  eyes  of  Catholics, 
the  teaching  of  religion  invests  the  school  with  a 
value  that  nothing  else  can  give  it.  This  factor 
will  be  considered  in  the  two  following  chapters. 
After  religion,  the  most  important  of  the  qualita- 
tive factors  that  affect  the  school  are  equipment, 
curriculum,  and  teaching.  It  will  be  more  con- 
venient to  confine  our  attention,  throughout  the 
remainder  of  this  Chapter,  to  the  elementary  and 
secondary  schools,  and  to  reserve  consideration  of 
the  colleges  till  farther  on.1 

1  Cf .  Chapters  VIII  and  IX. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  7 

It  may  frankly  be  admitted  that,  with  certain 
exceptions,  the  equipment  in  Catholic  schools  was 
not,  in  the  past,  equal  to  the  equipment  in  the  cor- 
responding state-supported  schools.  But  a  great 
change  has  taken  place.  Not  only  in  the  large 
cities,  but  even  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns, 
Catholic  schools  of  all  kinds  are  now  to  be  seen 
which  compare  favorably  with  the  public  schools, 
in  respect  of  building,  interior  appointments,  and 
class-room  equipment.  Ever  where  to-day  there  is 
a  keen  realization  of  the  need  of  making  school 
buildings  and  equipment  thoroughly  up-to-date 
and  equal  to  the  best. 

Since  the  public  schools  occupy  a  position  of 
prestige  and  advantage,  owing  to  their  relation  to 
the  state  and  their  numerical  preponderance,  it 
might  be  expected  that  the  curriculum  of  the  parish 
school  would  tend  to  conform  to  that  of  the  public 
school.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  tendency  in  the 
parish  schools  has  always  been  towards  the  adop- 
tion of  the  same  academic  standards  as  have  ob- 
tained in  the  public  schools,  including  curriculum, 
text-books,  methods  of  teaching  and  educational 
theories,  the  only  exception  being  in  the  matter  of 
religious  instruction.1    The  so-called  "  real  "  stud- 

1  Cf.  Bums,  Principles,  Origin  and  Esiab.  of  Cath. 
ScJwol  System,  p.  161 ;  also  Growth  and  Devel.  of  Cath.  School 
System,  p.  350. 


8  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

ies,  in  spite  of  all  the  clamor  raised  against  them, 
have  steadily  made  their  way  into  the  curriculum 
of  the  parish  school,  as  they  have  into  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  public  school.  The  movement  has 
been,  perhaps,  a  little  slower  in  the  one  case  than 
in  the  other,  for  Catholics  are  prone  to  be  con- 
servative in  such  things,  especially  on  account 
of  the  increased  expenditure  involved.  Again, 
attempts  that  have  been  made  of  late  to  bring 
about  radical  changes  in  the  curriculum  of  the 
parish  schools  have  failed  so  far,  because  of  a 
general  feeling  that  such  action  would  be  inexpedi- 
ent, except  in  conjunction  with  a  similar  reform  in 
the  public  schools.1 

It  is  by  the  teaching,  however,  that  the  quality 
of  a  school  is  chiefly  to  be  judged,  and  in  this 
respect  Catholic  schools,  both  elementary  and 
secondary,  have  a  certain  fundamental  advantage. 
It  is  admitted  on  all  sides  that  the  great  obstacle 
to  efficient  teaching  in  the  public  schools  is  the 
shortness  of  the  service  of  the  most  capable  teachers. 
A  recent  writer  in  the  Educational  Review  puts  the 
matter  in  this  way: 

It  is  the  most  serious  disadvantage  of  women  as  teachers, 
that  the  more  desirable  they  are,  the  more  they  contemplate 
a  marriage  which  will  take  them  out  of  teaching.    Hence, 

1  Cf.  Rep.  of  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  IX,  p.  87;  also,  Chapter  VI 
infra. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  9 

they  cannot  give  themselves  to  teaching  with  the  whole- 
heartedness,  the  professional  spirit,  of  the  man  who  sees  no 
other  avenue  to  success.  But  when  marriage  is  no  longer 
probable  the  woman  loses  something  of  what  she  already 
has.1 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  last  statement, 
there  can  be  no  question  that  marriage  is  con- 
stantly depleting  the  ranks  of  the  trained  teachers. 
No  remedy,  apparently,  can  be  devised  for  this 
condition  of  things,  except  the  replacement  of 
women  by  men,  and  this  is  at  present  an  economic 
impossibility.  The  effect  of  this  condition  upon 
the  quality  and  standard  of  the  teaching  in 
the  public  schools  is  dispassionately  shown  by  a 
member  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Bureau  of 
Education,  in  his  "  Survey  of  Education  During 
1911-12."  In  discussing  current  criticisms  of  the 
schools,  he  says: 

The  usual  criticism  is  rather  of  the  inadequacy  of  the 
supply  of  teachers  than  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  individuals, 
though,  of  course,  there  is  a  direct  relation  between  the  two. 
The  teaching  standard  is  unquestionably  lower  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States  than  in  certain  other  countries, 
for  a  number  of  reasons  that  need  not  be  entered  into  here. 
It  is  seldom  recognized  how  inadequate  the  supply  of  teach- 
ers for  American  schools  really  is.  There  were,  last  year, 
about  25,000  graduates  of  teacher-training  courses  in  col- 
leges, normal  schools  and  high  schools  in  the  United  States. 

1  Ed.  Rev.,  XLIII,  p.  33. 


,10  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

It  is  found  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  that  the  average 
length  of  employment  is  less  than  five  years.  With  a  total 
teaching  force  of  about  450,000,  this  means  that  not  more 
than  one  in  five  of  the  teachers  actually  employed  is  pro- 
fessionally trained,  even  on  a  minimum  basis.  In  one 
Western  State,  by  no  means  the  lowest  in  educational 
facilities,  only  about  one-half  the  teachers  in  the  schools 
have  even  a  high-school  edv~ation,  and  there  are  many  parts 
of  the  United  States  where  the  average  education  of  the 
teachers  is  not  above  the  seventh  grade.1 

In  contrast  to  this  condition,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Philip 
R.  McDevitt,  when  Superintendent  of  Schools  of 
the  Archdiocese  of  Philadelphia,  drew  attention  to 
the  advantages  enjoyed  by  the  Catholic  teaching 
body,  made  up,  as  it  is,  almost  entirely  of  Brothers 
and  Sisters: 

The  teachers  of  the  parish  schools  make  teaching  a  life 
work;  with  them  it  is  a  high  calling,  a  distinct  vocation 
which  is  entered  upon  with  no  thought  of  turning  therefrom 
until  age  or  infirmity  removes  them  from  the  field  of  activ- 
ity. .  «  .  While  inexperienced  teachers  are  found  in  the 
parish  schools,  it  is  inevitable  that  their  number  should  not 
be  as  large  in  a  system  where  teaching  is  a  life  work  as  in  a 
system  where  it  is  not.  Still  more,  the  evils  resulting  from 
inexperienced  teachers  are  more  easily  corrected  in  the 
parish-school  system,  because  of  the  spirit  of  solidarity  and 
cooperation  which  characterizes  religious  communities, 
and  which  brings  to  the  young  teacher  the  helpful  assistance 
of  the  principal  and  of  older  teachers. 

1  Rep.  Bur.  0}  Ed.  for  1912, 1,  p.  11. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  11 

By  reason  of  this  attitude  which  the  teachers  of  the  parish 
schools  assume  toward  their  work,  and  by  reason  of  other 
puissant  forces  inherent  in  our  system  of  education,  it 
is  certain  that,  at  no  distant  date,  the  results  of  parish  school 
education  will  bear  more  than  a  favorable  comparison  with 
those  of  the  state-supported  institutions.1 

Catholic  teachers  have  to  pass  through  the 
postulate  and  novitiate,  and  are,  therefore,  never 
without  considerable  professional  preparation  when 
they  begin  their  work.  It  is  a  life-work  with  them, 
moreover,  and  whatever  may  be  the  defects  of  the 
young  teacher,  the  "  spirit  of  solidarity  and  coop- 
eration "  in  religious  communities  may  be  counted 
on  as  a  permanently  helpful  influence  in  the 
teacher's  life  and  work. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  that  during  the  past  decade 
great  progress  has  been  made  by  the  teaching  com- 
munities in  respect  to  normal  school  training. 
Postulate  and  novitiate  courses  have  been  enlarged 
and  strengthened;  summer  institutes  have  been 
reorganized;  and — most  important  of  all — summer 
schools,  lasting  from  four  to  six  weeks,  have  been 
instituted  at  several  of  the  larger  Catholic  colleges, 
where  Sisters  may  have  the  benefit  of  regular  col- 
lege courses  conducted  by  able  and  experienced 
professors.  The  summer  school  at  the  Catholic 
University,  Washington,  was  attended,  in  191 6,  by 

1  Report  for  1913,  p.  20. 


12  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

304  Sisters,  representing  25  religious  orders,  64 
religious  houses,  40  dioceses,  and  27  States,  besides 
the  Dominion  of  Canada.1  A  fact  of  even  greater 
significance  in  this  connection  was  the  conferring 
of  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  the  same  year  on 
sixteen  Sisters,  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  on  ten, 
and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  on  one,  all 
of  these  being  students  of  Sisters'  College,  a  higher 
normal  institute  at  the  Catholic  University.2 

Stability  of  Catholic  School  System 

The  upkeep  of  the  parish  schools  is  costing 
Catholics  in  the  United  States  about  $12,000,000  a 
year,  besides  the  cost  of  permanent  improvements. 
This  is  truly  an  enormous  sum  to  raise  each  year 
by  voluntary  contributions.  The  amount  is,  of 
course,  steadily  increasing,  and  it  is  likely  to  be 
near  $20,000,000  by  the  next  census-year.  Can 
the  school  system  be  maintained  under  this  heavy 
financial  burden? 

There  are  two  factors  in  the  Catholic  school 
system  which  may  be  briefly  referred  to,  in  answer 
to  this  question.  The  first  is,  the  teachers.  We  have 
seen  that  they  nearly  all  belong  to  stable  religious 
organizations,  and  that  they  make  teaching  their 

1  Cath.  Ed.  Rev.,  XII,  p.  157. 

2  lb.,  p.  177. 


GENERAL  CONDITIONS  13 

life  work.  If  there  were  a  question  of  abolishing 
the  public  schools  and  substituting  something  else 
in  place  of  them,  the  half  million  teachers  in  the 
public  schools  would  stand  arrayed  in  solid  oppo- 
sition against  the  change,  and  their  influence  would 
be  apt  to  be  decisive.  May  we  not  likewise  say 
that  the  forty  thousand  teachers  engaged  in  Cath- 
olic elementary  and  secondary  schools  constitute 
a  most  effective  guarantee  of  the  stable  contin- 
uance of  the  Catholic  school  system?  With  them 
it  is  more  than  a  matter  of  individual  interest; 
the  very  life  of  the  teaching  community  is  bound  up 
with  the  continuance  of  the  schools. 

The  second  factor  is  the  people,  the  source  from 
which  is  drawn  annually  the  vast  sum  of  money 
required  for  the  support  of  the  schools.  Can  the 
people  be  relied  on  to  continue  this  support? 
Individuals  have  been  known  to  complain  of  the 
burden.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  constant  increase  of 
the  sum-total  that  is  needed,  the  Catholic  people 
as  a  whole  have  continued,  year  after  year,  to 
contribute  the  requisite  funds,  not  only  uncom- 
plainingly, but  with  cheerful  confidence.  They 
have,  indeed,  felt  the  burden  and  the  injustice  of  a 
double  school  support,  but  they  have  believed,  at 
the  same  time,  that  Catholic  schools  are  more  than 
worth  their  heavy  cost.  To-day,  as  never  before, 
Catholics  are  united  in  support  of  the  principle  of 


14  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

religious  education,  with  all  that  it  involves.  They 
have  a  firm  conviction  that  they  must  ever  stand 
for  this  principle,  whatever  be  the  ways  and  means 
by  which  its  realization  may  be  legitimately  sought 
in  practice.1 

The  struggle  for  Catholic  schools  is,  in  fact, 
largely  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  main  issue  has 
long  since  been  decided.  Beginning  far  back  in 
the  days  of  the  very  infancy  of  Catholic  life  in  this 
country,  the  Catholic  school  system  was  contin- 
ually enlarged  with  the  growth  of  the  Church,  until 
it  attained  its  mature  proportions  in  the  period  of 
wonderful  Catholic  development  that  followed  the 
first  great  immigration.  It  was  the  immigrants, 
especially  those  from  Germany  and  Ireland,  who 
really  settled  the  matter.2  Catholics  of  the  present 
generation  have  had  only  to  preserve  and  perfect 
the  educational  system  which  they  found  already 
solidly  established. 

1  For  the  financial  cost  of  the  parish  schools,  cf.  Rt. 
Rev.  Mgr.  Philip  R.  McDevitt,  Supt.  of  Schools  of  the 
Archdiocese  of  Phila.,  in  his  Ann.  Rep.  for  1913,  p.  17; 
also  the  calculation  made  by  the  author,  with  approxi- 
mately the  same  result,  for  New  York  City,  in  Amer.  Eccl. 
Rev.,  XLIV,  p.  531  seq.,  art.  on  The  Economic  Side  of  the 
School  Question,  and  the  author's  Growth  and  Bevel,  of  the 
Cath.  School  System,  p.  274,  seq. 

2  Burns,  Growth  and  Develop,  of  Cath.  School  System,  p.  15. 


CHAPTER  II 
RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING 

In  the  Public  Schools 

It  was  shown  by  Bishop  Hughes,  some  four- 
score years  ago,  that  although  the  public  schools  of 
his  day  might  provide  well  enough  for  the  religious 
instruction  of  Protestants,  they  could  not  be  made 
satisfactory  to  Catholics  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  public  schools  of  that  time  were  strongly 
Protestant  in  tone;  the  teachers  were  generally 
Protestants,  and  Protestant  Bible-reading  and 
prayers  formed  part  of  the  daily  program.  But 
even  if  the  Douay  Bible  were  to  be  substituted  for 
the  King  James  Version,  the  Bishop  would  have 
remained  unsatisfied.  He  maintained  that  the 
Catholic  creed  had,  in  the  nature  of  things,  to  be 
taught  in  its  entirety,  in  order  to  be  taught  effec- 
tively. It  was  not  so  with  the  Protestant  creeds, 
these  being  "  so  ambiguously  defined  that  the 
addition  or  subtraction  of  half  a  dozen  dogmas  can- 
not destroy  their  identity."1  The  fundamental 
position  of  Bishop  Hughes,  in  all  his  utterances  on 

1  Hassard,  Life  of  Archb.  Hughes,  p.  177. 
15 


16  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

the  school  question,  was  simple  and  clear:  It  was 
essential  that  the  Catholic  religion  should  be  taught 
to  Catholic  children  in  the  school;  and  since  this 
was  impossible  in  the  public  schools  as  constituted 
at  the  time,  it  was  imperative  for  Catholics  to 
establish  schools  of  their  own.1  He  was  governed 
by  the  same  principles  in  his  attitude  towards 
colleges.  This  is  still,  substantially,  the  attitude 
of  Catholics  towards  the  public  schools  and  the 
non-Catholic  colleges. 

The  public  schools,  however,  have  changed  con- 
siderably in  character  since  the  days  of  Bishop 
Hughes.  They  have  lost  their  Protestant  tone, 
especially  in  the  large  centers  of  population.  In 
many  schools  the  Bible  is  still  read,  and  a  daily 
prayer  offered;  but  the  prayers  are,  as  a  rule,  as 
colorless  as  the  daily  prayer  in  the  houses  of  Con- 
gress, and  the  prevailing  tendency  for  a  long  time 
has  been  towards  the  complete  elimination  of  Bible- 
reading.  The  State  of  Illinois,  by  a  decision  of  its 
Supreme  Court  in  1910,  was  added  to  the  list  of 
States  that  bar  from  the  classroom  not  only  the 
Bible,  but  also  prayers  and  hymns  of  any  kind.2 

Positive  Christian  teaching  has  thus  been  prac- 
tically eliminated  from  the  public  schools.  Moral 
teaching,  however,  can  never  be  entirely  eliminated 

1  Ibid. ;  Cf .  Works  of  Bishop  Hughes,  Vol.  I,  passim. 

2  Decision  of  June  29,  1910. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  17 

from  them,  because  certain  moral  habits  and  vir- 
tues are  absolutely  essential,  not  only  to  civiliza- 
tion, but  even  to  normal  school-room  life.  The 
school  could  not  do  its  work  at  all,  except  there 
went  along  with  the  pupil's  growth  in  knowledge 
a  certain  growth  in  moral  power — the  formation  of 
habits  of  honesty,  industry,  fidelity,  thoroughness, 
order,  patience,  and  the  rest.  These  habits  may 
be  acquired,  to  a  certain  degree,  through  the  teach- 
ing of  the  common-school  branches,  and,  indeed, 
they  must  be  at  least  partly  so  acquired.  This 
holds  true  for  Catholic  schools,  no  less  than  for 
those  in  which  religion  is  not  formally  taught. 
But  while  moral  habits  and  virtues  must  neces- 
sarily be  inculcated  by  the  public  schools,  even 
though  there  be  no  formal  instruction  in  ethics, 
yet,  without  positive  Christian  or  religious  teach- 
ing, such  habits  and  virtues  must  rest  upon  a 
purely  naturalistic  basis,  consisting  of  the  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong,  of  virtue  and  vice,  which  are 
found  in  rational  nature  and  are  made  known  by 
the  voice  of  conscience. 

Now,  the  American  people,  as  a  whole,  are  far 
from  desiring  that  the  moral  training  of  their 
children  shall  be  based  solely  upon  a  pagan  ethics. 
The  atmosphere  of  America  is  Christian.  Most 
Protestants  or  descendants  of  Protestants,  how- 
ever indifferent  they  may  be  in  the  matter  of  church- 


18  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

going,  cling  to  Christian  standards  and  sanctions  of 
moral  life,  and  are  certainly  not  ■willing  to  accept 
anything  inferior  to  these  for  their  children.  The 
great  majority  of  the  American  people  would  agree 
with  Archbishop  Ireland  that,  "  Morals  not  im- 
bedded in  the  conscience  are  but  shadowy  con- 
ventionalities, powerless  in  presence  of  strong 
temptation;  and  the  conscience,  to  be  the  moral 
censor  it  is  destined  by  the  Creator  to  be,  must  be 
permeated  with,  solidified  in,  religion:  The  con- 
science without  God  and  the  Savior  is  as  a  tribunal 
without  a  judge."1  How,  then,  is  the  acquiescence 
of  most  American  parents  in  the  complete  exclu- 
sion of  religion  from  the  public  schools  to  be 
explained? 

There  are  several  facts  that  throw  light  upon  this 
inconsistency.  First  of  all,  the  abandonment  of 
positive  Christian  teaching  in  the  schools  has  been 
a  gradual  process,  and  not  a  sudden  change.  The 
framers  of  the  public  school  system  never  intended 
or  even  considered  as  possible,  the  complete  de- 
Christianization  of  the  schools.  The  plan  they 
adopted  comprehended  the  teaching  of  such  fun- 
damental Christian  truths  as  would  be  acceptable 
to  all.  The  multiplication  of  religious  denomina- 
tions, together  with  the  influx  of  non-Christian 

1  Pastoral  Letter,  Aug.  18,  1913,  A  Catholic  School  for 
Catholic  Children. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  19 

immigrants  and  the  growth  of  unbelief,  completely 
upset  this  plan,  and  religious  teaching  in  the 
schools  has  had  to  give  way,  little  by  little,  under 
the  influence  of  these  entirely  unforeseen  condi- 
tions. It  has  been  a  case  of  the  unwise  adoption 
of  a  principle  the  consequences  of  which  were  not 
forecast. 

Again,  although  moral  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  has  been  reduced  to  a  purely  naturalistic 
basis,  Christian  standards  of  moral  conduct  still 
obtain  in  the  schools,  as  they  do  in  the  life  of  the 
people.  For  instance,  the  child  is  taught  to  prac- 
tice honesty.  The  motives  that  are  proposed  to 
him,  to  this  end,  are  probably  no  higher  than  the 
motives  that  were  proposed  to  children  by  their 
preceptors  in  pagan  Greece  and  Rome.  But  the 
standards  of  honesty  and  virtue  to-day  are  higher. 
The  ideals  and  standards  of  morality  which  were  in- 
troduced into  the  world  by  Christianity  have  been 
implanted  too  deeply  in  the  life  and  aspirations  of 
the  race  to  be  easily  laid  aside,  even  when  they  are 
no  longer  associated  with  the  great  truths  from 
which  they  spring;  and  as  long  as  the  Christian  re- 
ligion prevails  in  the  land,  its  ideals  and  standards 
of  moral  conduct  must  have  a  certain  influence  in 
the  schools. 

The  chief  factor,  however,  in  this  attitude  of  the 
Protestant  parent,  is  reliance  upon  the  Sunday 


20  CATHOLIC   EDUCATION 

school.  With  the  gradual  elimination  of  religion 
from  the  school,  there  grew  up  the  belief  that  the 
work  that  religion  did  in  the  school  could  be  done 
just  as  well  in  the  Sunday-morning  class,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  church.  Indeed,  it  has  even 
been  maintained  that  the  work  of  religion  would 
be  done  all  the  better,  by  reason  of  its  being  con- 
fined to  the  Sunday-morning  class.1  What  had 
become  a  matter  of  practical  necessity,  thus  cams 
to  be  defended  and  advocated  on  psychological 
grounds. 

One  very  serious  disadvantage  of  the  Sunday 
school  is,  that  attendance  at  it  cannot,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  be  made  compulsory.  Many  parents 
are  neglectful;  and  the  tendency  in  America  is  to 
allow  children  greater  liberty.  It  is  a  generally 
admitted  fact,  at  any  rate,  that  not  over  50  per 
cent  of  the  children  of  the  United  States  attend 
Sunday  school.2  Here  is,  at  the  very  outset,  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  effective  substi- 
tution of  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school  for  relig- 
ious instruction  in  the  ordinary  school. 

But  is  the  Sunday  school  an  efficient  and  satis- 
factory substitute,  in  the  case  of  the  children  who 
do  attend  it?    There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  under 

1  Cf.  Paper  of  W.  T.  Harris,  in  Proceedings  of  National 
Ed.  Assn.,  1903. 

8  Ed.  Rev.,  XXXV,  p.  132;  America,  Oct.  24, 1914,  p.  52. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  21 

existing  circumstances,  the  religious  instruction 
imparted  in  the  Sunday  school  is  very  important 
for  the  Protestant  denominational  bodies.  It 
would  be  impossible  for  them  to  get  along  without 
it.  Nevertheless,  there  is  grave  reason  for  doubt- 
ing the  efficiency  of  the  Sunday  school,  even  with 
respect  to  those  who  regularly  attend  it.  At  the 
World's  Sunday-school  Convention  in  Washing- 
ton, in  1910,  a  distinguished  delegate  made  the 
statement  that  75  per  cent  of  all  the  boys  over 
thirteen  years  of  age  in  the  Protestant  Sunday 
schools  of  the  United  States  are  lost  to  the  church, 
and  never  make  profession  of  faith.  The  calcu- 
lation was  made,  it  was  stated,  after  study,  obser- 
vation, and  experience,  and  appears  to  have  been 
agreed  to  by  most  of  the  delegates  present.1  This 
statement  is  cited  here  simply  because  it  is  typical 
of  past  and  present  criticism  of  the  Sunday  school. 

If  we  now  turn  from  the  data  of  fact  and  experi- 
ence to  a  consideration  of  the  principles  involved, 
it  will  be  still  clearer  that  the  Sunday  school  is 
altogether  inadequate  to  provide  the  necessary 
religious  and  moral  instruction  for  the  child.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  position  of  Catholics — that 
religion  must  be  taught  in  the  schools — is  but  an 
inevitable  practical  conclusion  drawn  from  fun- 
damental tenets  of  the  Christian  Faith,  as  well  as  a 

1  Quoted  in  Cath.  Standard  and  Times,  Aug.  6,  1910. 


22  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

practical  expression  of  established  psychological 
laws.  The  discussion  of  psychological  principles 
will  be  reserved  for  the  following  chapter.  Here 
we  will  consider  the  question  of  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  school  with  reference  to  the  acquirement 
of  necessary  religious  knowledge  and  the  devel- 
opment of  sound  moral  character. 

Religious  Knowledge  is  the  Most  Important 

for  the  pupil,  because,  above  all,  we  are  creatures 
of  God,  and  are,  therefore,  bound  to  worship  and 
obey  Him  as  our  Creator.  Our  duties  to  God 
stand  before  all  our  other  duties;  and  the  knowl- 
edge and  worship  of  God  must  ever  be  first  among 
the  obligations  arising  in  the  dawning  intelligence 
of  the  child.  But  it  is  impossible  for  the  child  to 
acquire  a  due  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  obliga- 
tions towards  Him  in  a  few  lessons,  or  within  a 
few  weeks  or  months.  Time  is  needed,  as  with 
all  other  branches  of  knowledge.  Progress  can  be 
made  only  step  by  step.  Hence,  the  work  of  teach- 
ing religion  should  occupy  the  place  of  first  im- 
portance in  the  education  of  the  child  and  should 
be,  so  far  as  possible,  continuous.  These  condi- 
tions can  be  realized,  in  the  case  of  the  majority 
of  children,  only  in  the  regular  daily  school. 

Consider,  again,  the  Christian  teaching  about 
the  future  life.     A  course  in  engineering  that  would 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  23 

make  no  account  of  the  future  work  of  the  engi- 
neer would  be  fatally  defective.  Not  less  defec- 
tive, surely,  must  be  a  system  of  education  that 
leaves  out  of  account  the  life  after  death,  if  one 
accepts  the  view  that  the  present  life  is  for  each 
individual  but  a  preparation  for  an  unending  life 
that  is  to  follow,  and  that  the  happiness  or  unhap- 
piness  of  each  in  the  future  life  is  to  be  determined 
by  his  success  or  failure  in  the  moral  and  religous 
order  here  on  earth.  Hence,  Catholics  consist- 
ently hold  that  the  complete  moral  and  religious 
instruction  of  the  child  and  youth  is  abundantly 
essential  for  his  welfare,  both  here  and  hereafter, 
and  should  occupy  a  place  of  corresponding  im- 
portance in  his  daily  acquisitions  of  needful  knowl- 
edge. 

I  have  mentioned  only  two  of  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  The  consideration  of 
others,  such  as  the  Incarnation  or  the  law  of  char- 
ity, would  lead  just  as  plainly  to  the  same  con- 
clusion. To  the  Christian  mind,  all  these  are 
incontrovertible  truths.  Since  this  is  so,  it  is 
essential  that  the  Christian  child  should  come  to 
know  them  and  to  regulate  his  life  by  them,  at  the 
earliest  possible  age  and  in  the  most  complete 
manner.  The  home,  the  school,  and  the  Church 
must  each  furnish  its  share  of  his  religious  in- 
struction and  training.    The  work  of  all  three  is 


24  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

needed.  And  even  after  these  three  universal 
agencies  of  education  have  done  their  work  and 
done  it  well,  the  young  Christian  man  or  woman 
will  still  have  much  to  learn  in  the  sphere  of  re- 
ligious truth  and  practice — so  earthly  is  our  nature, 
so  profound  and  far-reaching  are  the  "  deep  things 
of  God." 

A  second  reason  upon  which  Catholics  base  the 
necessity  of  religious  instruction  in  the  school  is,  that 

Religious  Instruction  and  Moral  Instrlction 
Must  Go  Hand  in  Hand, 

if  either  is  to  be  effective.  All  admit  that 
there  must  be  moral  instruction  in  the  school; 
but  the  moral  virtues  that  go  to  constitute  the 
Christian  ideal  of  conduct  are  not  really  sep- 
arable from  their  religious  background.  "  Mor- 
ality," says  Bishop  Shahan,  "  is  religion  in  daily 
life,  religion  applied  to  our  ordinary  actions,  the 
love  and  fear  of  God  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
passions  of  men."  l  From  the  very  beginning  of 
Old  Testament  history,  the  two  things,  religion 
and  morality,  are  represented  as  intimately  united. 
The  life  and  teachings  of  Christ  bring  into  even 
clearer  light  the  indissoluble  character  of  their 

lGod  and  Morality   in  Education,  in  Cath.  Ed.  Review, 
VI,  p.  393- 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  25 

union.  To  attempt  to  separate  the  two,  therefore, 
and  to  teach  morality  without  religion,  is  to  attempt 
to  undo  the  work  of  divine  revelation.  "  What  God 
has  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  most  compelling  motives 
and  sanctions  in  the  moral  order  are  inextricably 
bound  up  with  the  great  primary  truths  of  the 
Christian  faith.  These  supreme  moral  sanctions 
are,  the  attainment  or  loss  of  one's  last  end,  in 
final  union  with  or  separation  from  God.  Even 
here  and  now,  these  conditions  are  inchoately 
realizable,  inasmuch  as  man's  life  in  the  moral 
order  may  either  lead  him  to  God,  or  withdraw  and 
separate  him  from  God.  Hence  the  idea  of  sin,  as 
an  offence  against  and  a  separation  from  God. 
It  is  plain  that  the  motive  of  sin,  as  well  as  that  of 
reward  or  punishment  in  a  future  life,  can  have  no 
moral  efficacy,  apart  from  belief  in  God  and  His 
divine  attributes. 

An  apt  illustration  of  the  necessity  of  appeal  to 
these  supreme  sanctions  is  afforded  by  the  current 
agitation  for  the  teaching  of  sex-hygiene  in  the 
schools.  What  is  to  be  done  to  save  the  rising 
generations  from  the  flood  of  vice  that  is  threat- 
ening to  engulf  them?  Forewarn  them  of  the 
danger;  explain  to  them  the  secrets  of  physiology 
and  biology;  point  out  clearly  the  path  of  nature, 
and  paint  in  the  strongest  colors  the  penalties 


26  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

nature  exacts  for  disobedience  to  her  laws — 
such  is  the  demand  we  hear.  Catholics  are  op- 
posed to  the  teaching  of  these  things  in  the  schools, 
for  both  religious  and  psychological  reasons.  They 
do  not  deny  that  in  individual  instances  it  may  be 
expedient  to  urge  certain  of  the  above  consider- 
ations. But  they  have  the  confessional  for  this, 
and  in  the  confessional,  as  elsewhere,  the  natural 
motives  and  sanctions  for  right  moral  conduct 
are  never  separated  by  them  from  those  higher 
motives  and  sanctions  afforded  by  faith.  They 
hold  that,  in  the  light  of  history  and  experience, 
purely  natural  and  human  motives  are  incapable 
of  producing  such  firmly  rooted  habits  of  virtue 
as  shall  be  proof  against  either  the  stormy  passions 
of  youth  or  the  subtler  temptations  of  maturer 
years.  They  seek  to  impress  on  the  youthful  mind 
that, 

That  is  right  which  is  according  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
that  is  wrong  which  is  opposed  to  the  same  high  and  holy 
rule  of  conduct.  Man  does  not  make  his  own  morality, 
nor  can  society  make  it  for  him.  It  is  not  a  conventional 
thing,  nor  a  passing  condition  of  manners,  or  an  elegant 
fairness  and  sweetness  of  life,  but  a  stern  and  solemn  and 
fixed  rule  of  conduct  made  known  to  us  by  Almighty  God. 
From  this  rule  none  may  deviate.  None  may  ignore  it, 
and  by  it  all  must  one  day  be  judged.  The  moral  law, 
thus  taught,  ceases  to  be  a  weak  rational  restraint,  no 
stronger  than  the  uncertain  heart  and  the  darkened  mind  of 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  2? 

nan;  it  is  God  Himself  shining  through  our  nature,  dimly, 
but  sweetly  and  warmly.1 

Are  these  supreme  moral  sanctions  above  the 
grasp  of  the  child  in  the  school?  They  are  in 
reality  less  difficult  for  the  child  to  grasp  than  the 
natural  motives  for  right  conduct  that  may  be 
proposed  to  him.  Seek  to  explain,  for  instance, 
why  one  should  not  steal.  The  idea  of  justice,  the 
sense  of  honor,  the  bond  of  universal  brotherhood — 
do  these  motives  appeal  as  forcibly  to  the  immature 
mind  of  the  average  child  as  does  the  simple  idea 
of  God  and  His  will?  Ask  a  Catholic  child,  Would 
you  steal?  The  child  will  tell  you  that  he  would 
not  steal,  because  God  does  not  wish  us  to  steal; 
that  God  made  us,  and  we  must  obey  Him;  that 
if  we  obey  we  shall  be  rewarded,  and  if  we  do  not 
obey  we  shall  be  punished.2  The  Catholic  child 
has  thus  a  simple,  clear,  rational,  ethical  system, 
and  this  system  is  based  upon  unchangeable 
religious  truth;  it  is  the  idea  of  duty,  but  illu- 
mined and  transformed  by  the  rays  of  divine  faith. 

Religion,  however,  does  not  impair  in  any  way 
the  force  of  the  purely  natural  motives  that  may 
be  appealed  to  for  right  conduct;    on  the  con- 

1  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Shahan,  op.  ciL,  p.  394. 

2  Rev.  F.  W.  Howard,  The  Catholic  Position  in  Educa- 
tion, an  address  delivered  before  the  Protestant  Ministers 
of  Columbus,  O.,  Feb.  7,  1910. 


28  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

trary,  it  greatly  adds  to  their  force.  There  is  not, 
in  fact,  a  single  natural  motive  for  the  doing  of 
what  is  right  and  good,  which  is  not  enlarged  and 
enriched  by  the  religious  maxims  laid  down  by 
Christ  and  exemplified  in  His  life  and  in  the  lives 
of  the  Saints.  In  the  case  of  honesty — to  continue 
the  same  illustration — the  motives  of  natural 
justice  are  reinforced  by  motives  in  the  super- 
natural order,  such  as,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven." 
The  sense  of  honor,  as  a  motive  for  honesty,  can- 
not but  be  heightened  by  the  realization  of  the 
nobleness  and  dignity  of  man's  nature  as  de- 
picted in  the  pages  of  the  evangelists.  The  bond 
of  universal  brotherhood,  as  a  motive  for  social 
actions,  was  unknown  to  the  pagans,  and  can  have 
no  real  validity  apart  from  the  religious  truths 
from  which  it  springs.  If  we  are  all  children  of 
one  Heavenly  Father,  the  duty  of  brotherly  love 
is  a  consequence  that  any  child  can  grasp;  if  we 
are  not,  the  wisest  philosophers  can  furnish  no 
valid  reason  for  an  all-inclusive  charity. 

But  if  religion  and  morality  are  not  really  sep- 
arable in  practice,  must  it  not  follow  that  our  ideals 
and  standards  of  moral  conduct  will  deteriorate,  if 
separated  from  the  religion  of  Christ?  The  new 
and  higher  moral  code  which  He  promulgated  was 
based  upon  the  fundamental  Christian  truths.  Can 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  TEACHING  29 

this  higher  Christian  moral  code  be  maintained, 
with  the  teaching  of  only  natural  ethics  in  the 
schools?  It  may,  perhaps,  be  maintained  for  a 
time.  J  As  has  been  pointed  out,  even  though  relig- 
ion is  not  taught  in  the  public  schools,  Christian 
standards  of  morality  still  have  influence  there. 
Nevertheless,  since  only  natural  motives  and 
sanctions  for  right  conduct  are  appealed  to  in  the 
schools,  there  must  result  a  gradual  lowering  of  the 
moral  standards  of  both  pupils  and  schools  to  this 
same  level;  and  this  must  mean,  in  time,  a  cor- 
responding deterioration  in  the  morals  of  the 
people!)  It  is  a  well-recognized  principle  of  ped- 
agogy, that  mere  intellectual  content  does  not 
count  for  much,  unless  it  is  brought  into  use  or 
action.1  So,  likewise,  Christian  ideals  and  stand- 
ards of  moral  life  will  gradually  lose  their  motive 
power,  unless  they  are  constantly  reinforced 
through  feeling  and  action. 

1  Shields,  Philosophy  of  Education,  p.  309. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE 

Some  Current  Teachings 

Teachers  of  philosophy  and  psychology  in  non- 
Catholic  colleges  and  normal  schools  generally 
accept  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  employ  it  as  a 
"  working  hypothesis  "  in  the  study  and  exposi- 
tion of  the  phenomena  of  consciousness.  Some 
distinguished  Catholic  scholars  are  believers  in  a 
modified  evolution,  but  they  maintain,  at  the 
same  time,  "  the  absence  of  all  proof  that  man's 
body  is  derived  from  animal  ancestors,  and  the 
proof  that  man's  spirituality  is  not  from  animality 
as  its  source."  1  The  theory  of  evolution,  as  it  is 
commonly  taught,  is  but  little  related  to  estab- 
lished facts,  and  appears  to  run  counter  to  both 
Scripture  and  Christian  tradition.  If  there  were 
no  other  objection  to  the  public  schools  and  the 
non-Catholic  colleges,  the  fact  that  so  many  of 
their  teachers  profess  materialistic  or  agnostic 
views  about  the  origin  and  nature  of  the  human 

1  Views  of  Rev.  E.  Wasmann,  S.  J.,  in  London  Tablet, 
Aug.  30,  1913,  p.  327. 

30 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  31 

soul  would  constitute  a  serious  difficulty  for 
Catholics  who  might  be  disposed  to  send  their 
children  to  such  institutions. 

Much  the  same  might  be  said  about  the  teach- 
ing of  sex-hygiene  in  the  schools.  ^Catholics, 
as  has  been  said,  are  opposed  to  this,  on  both 
religious  and  psychological  grounds.  Eminent 
psychologists  have  taken  the  same  stand.  At  best, 
the  teaching  of  sex-hygiene  is  but  an  experiment, 
and,  in  matters  of  religion  and  morality,  Catholics 
are  inclined  to  be  conservative.  Where  the  eternal 
destiny  of  a  soul  may  be  involved,  there  can  be  no 
room  for  experimentation^ 

Nor  can  Catholics  regard  without  suspicion  a 
pedagogical  scheme  or  system  based  upon  the 
theory  that  "  the  normal  child,  placed  in  natural 
surroundings,  is  always  good  ";  and  that,  "  if  one 
finds  that  a  child  in  such  surroundings  persists  in 
being  bad,  it  is  patent  that  it  is  abnormal,  being 
either  physically  or  mentally  weak."1  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  this  theory,  as  applied  in  the 
Montessori  kindergartens,  there  are  very  serious 
objections  to  its  application  in  the  elementary 
schools. 

The  tendency  towards  paternalism  in  the  public 
schools,  which  has  become  increasingly  evident 

1  Maria  Montessori,  Washington  Post,  Dec.  5,  1913;  cf. 
America,  X,  p.  130. 


32  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

during  recent  years,  need  not  concern  us  here, 
although  it  has  led  to  a  fear  that  the  nation's 
schools  might  be  made  an  adjunct  of  the  social- 
istic propaganda.1  This  question  lies  beyond  the 
scope  of  our  present  discussion,  which  has  to  do 
with  the  psychological  basis  of  the  Catholic  sys- 
tem of  education,  especially  as  regards  the  teach- 
ing of  religion  in  the  school. 

There  are  many  facts  and  laws  in  the  domain  of 
psychology  that  bear  upon  the  question  of  teaching 
religion  in  the  school.  The  most  important  of 
these  are  summed  up  in  two  broad  and  universally 
recognized  pedagogical  formulas  which  we  may 
conveniently  make  use  of.     One  of  them  is, 

The  Correlation  of  Studies 

Correlation  means,  "  such  arrangement  of  the 
different  lines  of  work  in  the  school  that  the  work 
in  each  constantly  bears  upon  the  work  that  is 
being  done  at  the  same  time  in  the  other  subjects."2 
This  is  correlation  in  the  stricter  sense.  The 
term  has  also  a  broader  meaning.  It  may  refer 
to  the  bringing  about  of  the  proper  connection 
between  school  work  and  the  outer  life.     Some  of 

!Cf.  Bird  S.  Coler,  Socialism  in  the  Schools,  and  The 
Residuary  Sect. 

1  Henderson,  art.  on  Apperception,  in  Cyclopedia  of  Edu- 
cation, I,  p.  143. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  33 

the  most  promising  educational  movements  of 
the  day  have  to  do  with  correlation  in  this  wider 
aspect — "  the  correlation  of  school  and  home,  of 
school  and  vocation,  and  of  school  and  the  entire 
present  or  future  outside  activity  of  the  pupil."1 

Correlation  in  the  stricter  sense,  as  defined  above, 
may  be  of  two  kinds — incidental,  and  systematic. 

Incidental  correlation  is  that  which  arises  as  a  result  of 
the  broad  presentation  of  a  topic  to  a  class.  If  the  teacher 
is  giving  a  history  lesson  on  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus,  and  makes  use  of  arithmetic,  geometry,  geog- 
raphy, natural  history,  literature,  and  drawing,  as  a  means 
of  developing  interest  in  the  class  and  giving  a  compre- 
hensive notion  of  the  event,  she  is  employing  correlation. 
Systematic  correlation  involves  such  arrangement  of  the 
content  of  the  various  subjects  in  the  curriculum  as  makes 
them  constantly  bear  upon  each  other.1 

A  systematic  correlation  of  all  the  subjects  in 
the  curriculum,  however  desirable,  is  full  of  diffi- 
culties. Various  schemes  of  study  have  been 
proposed  for  this  purpose,  but  so  far  none  of  them 
has  met  with  more  than  a  limited  acceptance. 
Incidental  correlation,  however,  is  now  generally 
recognized  as  a  necessity  for  good  teaching.1 
The  principle  may  be  applied,  more  or  less,  in 
almost  every  recitation.  The  interlocking  of  one 
subject  or  branch  of  the  curriculum  with  the 

1Ib.,  II,  art.  on  Correlation,  p.  210. 


34  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

others,  in  so  far  as  the  particular  topic  that  is 
being  treated  may  allow,  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinctive features  of  modern  pedagogical  method.1 
"  No  piece  of  knowledge,"  says  Maxwell,  "  should 
be  left  isolated,  unassociated  with  other  pieces  of 
knowledge."2 

What  is  the  reason  for  the  universal  acceptance 
of  the  principle  of  correlation,  and  the  ever- 
widening  scope  of  its  application?  The  reply  is, 
that  correlation  enables  the  child  to  understand 
better  what  he  studies;  it  makes  his  studies  more 
interesting,  and  the  use  of  the  knowledge  gained 
more  easy  and  sure.3  A  deeper  reason  lies  in  the 
psychological  laws  of  association.  James  declared 
that  "  there  is  no  other  elementary  causal  law  of 
association  than  the  law  of  neural  habit,"  and  he 
formulated  the  law  in  these  terms:  "  When  two 
elementary  brain  processes  have  been  active  to- 
gether or  in  immediate  succession,  one  of  them,  on 
re-occurring,  tends  to  propagate  its  excitement  into 
the  other."4  In  other  words,  an  idea  or  image 
tends  to  recall  that  other  idea  or  image  which  has 
been  habitually  associated  with  it.    The  other  idea 

1  Cf.  Shields,  The  Teaching  of  Religion,  C.  H,  on  Correla- 
tion. 

2  Ed.  Rev.,  XLVII,  p.  172. 

3  Henderson,  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  209. 

4  Psychology,  Briefer  Course,  p.  256. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  35 

or  image  may  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  always  be 
recalled,  for  there  are  other  factors  than  mere  fre- 
quency or  habit  that  play  a  part.  But  the  most 
radical  tendency,  whether  it  be  in  the  case  of  sim- 
ple or  of  compound  images,  is  that  of  recall  through 
frequency  or  habit  of  association. 

The  Catholic  view,  as  regards  the  teaching  of 
religion  in  the  school,  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
laws  of  mental  association,  as  formulated  by 
psychologists,  and  given  pedagogical  application  by 
Herbart  in  his  theory  of  apperception.  To  illus- 
trate, by  a  few  examples.  In  nature-study,  if 
the  idea  of  God  as  the  Creator  of  nature  and 
her  laws  is  kept  before  the  mind  of  the  child, 
there  will  be  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  child 
to  recall  the  idea  of  God  in  connection  with  the 
phenomena  of  nature.  If,  in  the  study  of  history, 
Christ  is  properly  represented  as  the  central 
figure  in  all  history,  and  Christianity,  as  the  most 
important  and  comprehensive  fact  in  history, 
the  youth  will  be  inclined  to  regard  the  events 
of  the  past,  as  well  as  those  of  the  present,  from 
the  standpoint  of  their  relation  to  Christ  and 
Christianity.  In  vocal  music,  if  the  exercises  that 
may  be  selected  breathe  the  spirit  of  religion,  they 
will  foster  in  the  pupils  religious  sentiment  and 
emotion.  These  conclusions  are  simple  conse- 
quences from  the  laws  of  association,  no  less  than 


36  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

observations  of  experience.  In  the  lesson  in  his- 
tory on  the  Discovery  of  America  by  Columbus, 
as  the  modern  pedagogist  declares — taking  this 
as  an  illustration  to  be  applied,  cceteris  paribus,  to 
all  the  other  studies — the  teacher  is  to  "  make  use 
of  arithmetic,  geometry,  geography,  natural  his- 
tory, literature,  and  drawing,  as  a  means  of  devel- 
oping interest  in  the  class  and  giving  a  compre- 
hensive notion  of  the  event."1  But  why,  we  ask, 
omit  religion  from  the  list?  It  clearly  belongs 
there,  both  because  it  is  bound  up  with  the  his- 
toric circumstances  of  the  event,  and  because  of 
the  splendid  opportunity  offered  for  impressing 
upon  the  pupils  an  idea  of  the  beneficent  influence 
of  Christianity  in  the  world. 

Religion  is  the  most  comprehensive  subject  in 
the  curriculum.  It  has  a  wider  range  of  cor- 
relating power  than  any  other  subject.  It  can  be 
brought  into  the  reading  lesson,  as  into  the  writing 
exercise;  into  language  lessons  and  literature,  as 
well  as  history;  into  nature-study  and  drawing; 
into  art  and  music;  and  even,  to  some  extent, 
into  the  study  of  arithmetic.2  Religion,  accord- 
ing to  the  Catholic  view,  should  have  part  in  the 
teaching  of  all  the  branches  of  the  curriculum,  in 
so  far  as  this  is  reasonably  possible;   just  as,  on 

1  Cyclopedia  of  Ed.,  I,  p.  143. 

2  Shields,  The  Teaching  of  Religion,  p.  26. 


THE   PSYCHOLOGICAL   SIDE  37 

the  other  hand,  in  teaching  religion,  symbols, 
analogies,  and  illustrations  of  spiritual  truths 
must  be  drawn  from  nature,  from  art,  from  history 
and  personal  experience,  from  literature  and  all 
other  sources  available,  if  the  work  is  to  be  done 
effectively.  Only  thus  can  the  expanding  ideas  of 
the  plastic  youthful  mind  attain  fullest  develop- 
ment, while  becoming  "  compacted  and  fitly  joined 
together,"  according  to  the  fundamental  laws  of 
mental  growth.  Religious  principles  can  never 
rightly  be  excluded  from  any  occupation,  activity, 
or  interest  of  a  truly  Christian  man;  and  to  this 
end  it  is  essential  that  there  should  be  established 
the  most  intimate  correlation  between  religion  and 
the  secular  occupations,  activities,  and  interests 
of  the  child  and  the  youth.  "  The  teacher,"  says 
Herbart,  "  must  represent  the  future  man  in  the 
boy;  consequently,  the  aims  which  the  pupil  will 
as  an  adult  place  before  himself  in  the  future  must 
be  the  present  care  of  the  teacher;  he  must  pre- 
pare beforehand  an  inward  facility  for  attaining 
them."1 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Catholic  educators 
have  not,  as  yet,  fully  succeeded  in  establishing 
this  intimate  correlation  between  religious  instruc- 
tion and  the  other  studies  of  the  curriculum.     The 

1  Herbart,  The  Science  of  Education,  translation  by  H.  M. 
and  E.  Felkin,  p.  109. 


38  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

general  idea  of  correlation  has  been  instinctively 
grasped;  but  it  has  not  always  been  consistently 
carried  out.  In  many  schools,  the  teaching  of 
religion  is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  cate- 
chism class.  Where  Catholic  text-books  are  used 
in  history,  reading  and  literature,  and  geography, 
as  is  now  frequently  the  case,  a  notable  improve- 
ment has  been  effected.  But  very  much  remains 
still  to  be  done.  There  is  needed,  on  the  part  of 
many  Catholic  teachers,  a  more  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  psychological  laws  of  association,  and  a 
closer  study  of  their  application  through  the  prin- 
ciple of  correlation.  Catholic  text-books  are  very 
desirable;  but,  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  who  does 
not  understand  their  fundamental  purpose,  they 
may  be  of  little  or  no  service.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  teacher  who  realizes  the  importance  of  invest- 
ing every  study  and  every  class,  so  far  as  possible, 
with  a  religious  spirit  and  interest,  will  know  how  to 
do  this  effectively  even  without  the  aid  of  text- 
books. Incidental  correlation  depends  for  its  suc- 
cess upon  the  teacher.1 
If  the  psychological  laws  of  association  require 

1A  new  series  of  Catholic  readers,  which  admirably 
exemplify  this  principle  of  incidental  correlation,  has  issued 
recently  from  the  Catholic  Education  Press,  Washington, 
D.  C.  The  author  of  the  series  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  T.  E. 
Shields,  of  the  Catholic  University. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  39 

4 

that  religion,  if  it  is  to  be  taught  at  all,  should  be 
taught  in  the  school  and  correlated  with  the  other 
subjects,  what  is  to  be  thought,  from  our  present 
point  of  view,  of  the  omission  of  religious  instruc- 
tion altogether  in  the  school,  and  its  relegation  to 
the  Sunday  school?  From  what  has  been  said, 
it  is  evident  that  the  result  of  the  omission  will  be, 
that  the  ideas  derived  from  the  secular  school  and 
the  ideas  derived  from  the  Sunday  school  will  tend 
to  remain  without  causal  connection  in  the  pupil's 
mind.  There  will  be  the  large  circle  of  secular 
ideas  and  interests,  represented  by  the  long  list  of 
regular  school  studies,  and  the  five  full  days  each 
week  devoted  to  these;  and  there  will  be  the 
smaller  circle  of  religious  ideas  and  interests,  rep- 
resented by  the  single  weekly  class,  for  a  single 
hour.  Not  that  the  two  sets  of  ideas,  secular  and 
religious,  will  remain  in  the  mind  altogether 
unassociated.  This  would  be  impossible.  The 
religious  lessons  drawn  from  the  Sunday  school 
will  react,  more  or  less,  upon  the  mental  content 
derived  from  the  regular  school  work.  But  the 
respective  processes  of  apperception,  secular  and 
religious,  are  without  connection;  and  the  advan- 
tage that  would  be  gained  by  their  correlation — 
precisely  the  same  as  is  gained  in  the  case  of  the 
secular  studies  by  their  correlation — is  altogether 
lost. 


40  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

But  this  negative  effect  is  not  all.     There  is  a 

positive  evil  effect  resulting  from  the  omission  of 

religious  instruction   in   the   school.     The  course 

of  study  is  a  great  object  lesson.    The  work  of  the 

school,  with  the  large  space  it  occupies  in  his  life, 

comes  gradually  to  be  regarded  by  the  pupil  as 

comprising  the  things  of  utmost  value  for  him  in 

the  future.     The  fact  that  religion  is  left  out  of 

the  program  cannot  fail  to  impress  him.    Will  he 

not  be  inclined  to  draw  the  conclusion  that  religion 

is  either  something  superfluous,  or  something  that 

is,  at  any  rate,  without  necessary  connection  with 

everyday    life?1      A    non-Catholic    educator    has 

directed  attention  to  this  danger  in  the  following 

words: 

One  of  the  first  practical  dangers  of  society  is  that  the 
greatest  truths  that  bear  on  human  life  shall  come  to  be 
identified  in  the  public  mind  with  Sundays,  churches,  and 
Sunday-school.  We  certainly  are  helping  that  when  we 
provide  that  the  most  aroused  activities  of  a  boy's  mind 
shall  be  divorced  from  those  truths,  and  that  the  subjects  of 
science,  literature,  and  history,  with  which  the  church  and 
Sunday  school  cannot  deal,  shall  be  taught  with  a  studied 
absence  of  reference  to  "  the  Divine  Intelligence  at  the 
heart  of  things."  What  is  this  but  a  lesson  in  the  practical 
atheism  that  shuts  God  out  of  all  but  certain  selected  parts 
of  fife  with  which  the  young  man  may  have  as  little  to  do  as 

1  Very  Rev.  E.  A.  Pace,  Ph.D.,  Modern  Psydwlogy  and 
Education  {Educational  Briefs,  Phila.),  p.  21,  reprinted  from 
Cath.  World,  Sept.,  1905. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  41 

he  pleases.  What  would  be  the  effect  upon  a  child's  mind 
of  excluding  studiously  all  mention  of  his  earthly  father 
from  his  work  and  play  for  five  or  six  days  of  the  week,  of 
treating  all  his  belongings  and  relations  without  reference  to 
the  parents  to  whom  he  owes  them,  and  permitting  such 
reference  only  on  stated  times  when  they  are  declared  in 
order? 

But  the  monstrosity  and  the  mischievousness  of  such  an 
arrangement  would  be  as  nothing  to  the  scholastic  taboo  of 
the  living  God,  to  whom  the  child  owes  every  breath  of  its 
daily  life,  who  lies  about  it  as  a  great  flood  of  life  and  light 
seeking  to  enter  in  and  possess  its  spirit,  and  who  as  much 
feeds  its  mind  with  knowledge  and  wisdom  as  its  spirit  with 
righteousness,  and  its  body  with  earthly  food,  in  providing 
"  food  convenient  for  it."1 

Another  series  of  psychological  data  that  bear 
upon  the  question  of  teaching  religion  in  the  school, 
is  summed  up  in  the  general  pedagogical  formula  of, 

The  Atmosphere  of  the  School 

By  the  atmosphere  of  a  school  is  meant,  the  sum 
of  the  educative  influences  at  work,  outside  the 
formal  instruction.  These  indirect  agencies  con- 
stitute the  very  life-blood  of  the  school.  It  is 
their  silent,  subtle,  persistent  impress  upon  the 

1  Rev.  Robert  Ellis  Thompson,  Pres.  of  Central  High 
School,  Philadelphia,  in  Divine  Order  of  Human  Society, 
pp.  189,  190  (quoted  in  art.  on  The  School  Question  by 
Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  in  Catholic  Citizens  and  Public 
Education — pamphlet) . 


42  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

will  and  heart  that  begets  character.  Chief  among 
them  is  the  influence  of  the  teacher,  not  as  a  teacher, 
but  as  a  man  or  woman,  with  a  definite  character, 
definite  views,  and  definite  manner  of  life.  The 
pupils,  also,  influence  each  other:  character,  habits, 
views,  conduct,  manners,  and  home  surroundings 
— all  combine  to  produce  individual  as  well  as  social 
influence.  The  schoolroom  itself,  with  its  walls 
and  floor  and  furniture,  has  its  effect;  and  it  may- 
be made  to  convey  lessons  of  order,  neatness,  virtue 
and  religion  day  by  day,  silently,  but  none  the  less 
surely,  through  appeal  to  the  eye  and  the  aesthetic 
sense.1 

The  influence  exercised  by  teacher  and  pupils 
in  these  indirect  ways  is  largely  due  to  the  imita- 
tive instinct,  which,  as  psychology  has  shown, 
impels  the  pupil  to  copy  the  behavior  of  other 
human  beings,  and,  especially,  the  teacher — "  a 
model  far  more  suggestive,  in  word  and  look  and 
deed,  than  the  plainest  admonition  or  the  strictest 
rule  of  discipline."2  To  the  laws  of  mental  asso- 
ciation and  sense-perception  are  due  the  effects 
produced  by  the  appointments  and  adornments  of 
the  schoolroom.3    The  bare  crucifix  on  the  wall, 

1  Burns,  Principles,  Origin,  and  Establishment  of  the  Cath. 
School  System,  p.  26. 

2  Pace,  op.  cit.,  p.  18. 

3  lb.,  p.  7  seq. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  43 

in  a  Christian  school,  is  as  clearly  an  expression 
of  psychological  laws  as  it  is  of  religious  devo- 
tion, for  what  other  symbol  is  so  rich  in  spiritual 
and  religious  motives  for  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
Christian  youth?  Time,  of  course,  is  needed  for 
the  fruitful  operation  of  these  indirect  educational 
agencies,  the  effect  of  each  upon  the  mind  and 
will  being  due  to  the  cumulative  action  of  a  long 
series  of  impressions,  which  may  be  largely  un- 
perceived. 

In  the  Catholic  school  and  college,  these  indirect 
agencies  are  rightly  held  to  be  of  very  great  value, 
especially  for  the  development  of  religious  and 
moral  character;  and  every  effort  is  usually  made 
to  secure  their  realization  under  the  best  condi- 
tions, t  Thus,  as  regards  teachers,  the  vast  majority 
of  those  engaged  in  Catholic  schools  and  colleges 
are  men  and  women  who  are  devoted  to  the  service 
of  religion  by  profession.  They  belong  to  the 
religious  orders,  and  wear  a  garb  which  symbolizes 
their  sacred  calling.  They  have  had  to  undergo  a 
probation  of  at  least  two  years'  duration,  the  object 
of  which  was  not  only  to  prove  their  religious  voca- 
tion, but  also  to  foster  the  growth  of  their  spiritual 
life.  They  realize  fully  that  the  most  Jimiortant 
thing  in  the  training  of  the  young  is  their  religious 
and  moral  formation.  They  teach  without  any 
personal  remuneration.    Such  teachers  must  appear 


44  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

to  their  pupils  as  concrete,  living  evidences  of  the 
supreme  worth  of  spiritual  realities  as  compared 
with  material  things.  Their  very  character  is 
thus  calculated  to  diffuse  the  spirit  of  religion.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  psychologically 
impossible  for  the  pupil,  be  he  what  he  may,  to 
remain  under  the  influence  of  a  teacher  of  this  kind, 
without  some  corresponding  effect  upon  his  life 
and  character.  So  clear  is  this  to  the  Catholic 
mind,  that  the  laity  no  less  than  the  clergy  have 
always  manifested  an  eager  preference  for  religious 
teachers;  and  lay  teachers,  who  were  numerous  in 
the  schools  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
were  rapidly  replaced  by  members  of  religious 
orders,  once  a  way  was  found  to  secure  these  in 
sufficient  numbers.1  There  are,  of  course,  many 
lay  teachers  still  in  Catholic  schools  and  colleges; 
but  it  is  regarded  as  essential  that  they  be  of  unex- 
ceptionable moral  character  and  of  a  truly  religious 
spirit.  No  Catholic  school  or  college  would  be 
likely  to  tolerate  a  serious  defect  in  respect  to 
either  of  these  two  qualifications^ 

The  atmosphere  of  religion  is  also  furthered  by 
the  generality  of  the  pupils  being  of  the  Catholic 
faith.  The  character  and  habits  of  a  pupil  are  apt 
to  have  a  profound  influence  upon  his  companions. 
In  close  companionship,  this  influence  may  some- 
1  Burns,  op.  cit.,  pp.  277,  289,  301,  325. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL   SIDE  45 

times  be  far  greater  than  even  that  of  the  teacher. 
All  experienced  parents  and  teachers  know  this. 
Certain  souls  possess  this  power  of  influencing 
others  to  a  remarkable  degree.  Every  school  has 
its  "  leaders."  Are  these  all-important  facts  not 
to  be  taken  into  account  in  planning  for  the  inter- 
ests of  religion?  Catholics  have  consistently 
reckoned  with  them;  and  this  is  the  reason  why 
personal  character  is  always  emphasized  in  the 
requirements  of  their  schools  and  colleges.  ^Not 
only  must  the  great  majority  of  the  pupils  be  of 
the  Catholic  faith,  but  clean  moral  character  is 
regarded  in  every  Catholic  educational  institu- 
tion as  a  necessary  qualification  for  the  pupil's 
entrance  and  stay.  A  Catholic  school  or  college 
could  not  consistently  tolerate  a  pupil  known  to 
be  irreligious  in  temper  or  unclean  in  moral  lif  e?) 

Catholic  instinct  has  also  grasped  the  importance 
of  symbolical  and  artistic  imagery  as  an  aid  to 
instruction  in  religion.  There  is  no  classroom  in 
any  Catholic  educational  institution  without  the 
crucifix  hanging  conspicuously  before  the  eyes 
of  all,  and  there  is  seldom  a  wall  that  does  not 
bear  its  share  of  religious  pictures.  Pupils  may 
not  apparently  notice  such  things.  Their  effect 
will  naturally  be  greater  upon  some  than  upon 
others.  But  upon  each  and  all  they  are  inev- 
itably bound  to  exert  a  certain  measure  of  religious 


46  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

influence,  at  least  as  complementary  parts  of  a 
whole.  Experience  shows  that  the  memory  of 
such  symbols  often  persists,  long  after  the  knowl- 
edge gained  during  school  days  has  been  forgotten. 

There  are  other  elements  that  enter  into  the 
religious  atmosphere  of  the  Catholic  educational 
institution,  such  as  the  recitation  of  a  prayer  in 
common  before  and  after  class,  before  and  after 
meals,  and  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  each  school 
day.  These  are,  however,  direct  acts  of  prayer 
and  worship,  akin  to  the  formal  religious  services  in 
church  or  chapel,  and  the  psychological  principles 
they  embody  need  no  exposition  here. 

The  effect  of  the  religious  atmosphere,  as  well  as 
of  its  absence,  may  be  aptly  summed  up  in  the 
words  of  a  well-known  Catholic  educator.  He 
has  in  mind  the  college,  but  the  description  is  not 
less  applicable  to  the  school: 

The  young  man  attending  the  secular  university  from 
which  the  name  of  God  is  banished  may  easily  come  to  forget 
God.  The  very  fact  that  religion,  which  in  his  home  and 
amongst  his  people  stood  as  the  most  important  and  solemn 
fact  of  human  life,  is  there  ostentatiously  passed  over,  is 
itself  a  great  shock  to  his  faith.  Constant  intercourse 
with  professors  whose  learning  he  admires  and  who  are 
known  not  to  be  religious  men,  little  by  little  gnaws  at  the 
vitals  of  faith  as  a  cancer  works  death  upon  the  body. 
Daily  intercourse  with  students  who  have  no  religious  faith 
and,  perhaps,  even  deride  religion  altogether,  comes  after 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE  47 

a  while  to  paralyze  the  instincts  and  impulses  of  religion. 
It  is  not  human  reason  which  works  this  result;  it  is  the 
mere  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  around  him.  It  is  not  that 
science  is  the  enemy  of  faith,  but  that  teachers  of  science, 
themselves  without  faith,  by  persistent  reiteration  of  their 
own  infidel  opinions,  suggest  the  belief  that  learning  has  no 
fellowship  with  faith.  The  hero-worshiping  youth,  meas- 
uring his  untrained  and  callow  mind  against  the  mature 
intellect  of  the  professor,  observing  that  the  professor  finds 
no  place  for  religion  in  his  life,  may  come  after  a  while  to 
believe  that  religion  is  not  the  all-important  thing  he  fan- 
cied it. 

In  the  Catholic  college,  on  the  other  hand,  he  finds  him- 
self surrounded  by  learned  and  virtuous  men  to  whom  the 
Christian  faith  is  the  vital  fact  of  existence.  He  will  find 
religion,  not  only  in  church  and  chapel,  but  in  the  daily 
lecture,  m  daily  conversation,  touching,  as  it  should  touch, 
life  at  every  point.  Fellow-students  share  with  him  this 
glorious  faith;  devotions  are  performed  in  common;  the 
truths  of  religion  and  the  forms  of  prayer  mingle  honorably 
in  the  conversation  all  around  him,  and  here  the  world  is 
full  of  God  and  the  atmosphere  is  brightened  with  His  name 
and  His  praise.1 

1  Rev.  John  W.  Cavanaugh,  C.S.C.,  D.D.,  President  of 
the  Univ.  of  Notre  Dame,  Sermon,  Sept.  21,  1913  (Notre 
Dame  Scholastic,  XL VII,  1). 


CHAPTER  IV 
INNER  RELATIONS 

Organization 

The  Catholic  parish  school,  high  school,  and 
college  in  the  United  States  were  founded  inde- 
pendently of  each  other,  and,  generally  speaking, 
they  have  developed  along  independent  lines. 
The  parish  school  system  was  established  by  the 
bishops  and  parish  priests,  and  has  remained  sub- 
ject to  their  authority.  Most  of  the  colleges  and 
larger  high  schools  were  founded  by  the  religious 
orders,  and  are  consequently  under  their  direction 
to  a  great  extent  if  not  wholly.  During  recent 
years,  a  number  of  the  bishops  have  founded  dio- 
cesan high  schools.  Where  this  has  been  done,  it 
has  been  easy  to  effect  an  organic  connection  be- 
tween the  high  schools  and  the  neighboring  parish 
schools.  But  the  great  majority  of  the  better 
high  schools  are  still  unconnected  with  either  the 
parish  schools  or  the  colleges  in  any  organic  way. 

In  these  general  statements,  no  account  is  taken 
of  certain  special  relationships  that  may  exist 
between  these  institutions.     For  instance,  Cath- 

48 


INNER  RELATIONS  49 

olic  colleges  generally  have  their  own  high  schools 
or  preparatory  departments  in  organic  connection 
with  the  collegiate  departments.  Again,  where 
religious  orders  have  a  college,  they  usually  have 
charge  of  the  parish  in  which  it  is  located;  and  the 
school  of  this  particular  parish  may  thus  be 
brought  into  touch  with  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment and  the  college.  So,  too,  teaching  Brothers 
or  Sisters  often  have  charge  of  the  elementary 
school  and  the  high  school  in  the  same  parish,  and 
where  such  is  the  case  the  two  schools  are  naturally 
brought  into  close  relationship.  But  such  excep- 
tional conditions  have  conduced  but  little  towards 
the  unification  of  Catholic  educational  work  over 
the  entire  broad  field. 

The  American  college  seems  destined,  by  its 
nature  and  traditions,  to  stand  apart,  independent 
of  high  school  and  elementary  school.  If  it  were 
desirable  to  connect  these  three  institutions  as 
organic  parts  of  a  general  educational  scheme  or 
system,  as  has  been  done  in  European  countries, 
this  could  probably  be  effected  with  less  difficulty 
in  the  case  of  Catholic  institutions  than  in  that  of 
others.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  it  would  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  American  college  to  be  so  con- 
nected with  the  under  schools.  But  there  can  be 
no  question  as  to  the  desirability  of  a  close  con- 
nection between  the  elementary  school  and  the 


50  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

• 
high  school.     Such  a  relationship  has  long  existed 

between  the  public  high  school  and  the  public 
elementary  school.  The  two  are  under  the  same 
control,  and  their  respective  curricula  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  work  of  the  one  prepares  for,  and 
fits  into,  the  work  of  the  other.  The  advantages 
of  this  arrangement  are  obvious.  The  benefits 
that  would  accrue  to  Catholic  elementary  schools 
and  high  schools  by  being  closely  connected,  as 
component  parts  of  the  diocesan  educational  sys- 
tem, are  not  less  clear.  These  benefits  have,  in 
fact,  been  fully  realized  and  appreciated  wherever 
this  condition  has  been  brought  about. 

Cooperatioi 

There  is,  however,  another  and  an  even  more 
important  kind  of  relationship  between  educational 
institutions  than  that  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking.  There  is  a  moral  unity  that  manifests 
itself  in  cooperation,  or  mutually  helpful  effort 
directed  towards  the  attainment  of  common  ends. 
Happily,  this  spirit  has  characterized  our  educa- 
tional work  to  a  notable  degree.  It  will  be  shown 
that  the  tendency  has  always  been  towards  a  more 
perfect  realization  of  the  spirit  of  union  and  har- 
mony. But,  in  a  work  like  Catholic  education, 
whose  scope  is  so  vast,  whose  schools,  colleges  and 
other  institutions  were  so  little  connected  in  origin, 


INNER  RELATIONS  51 

and  which  is  being  carried  on  under  conditions  so 
varying,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  com- 
plete moral  unity  to  be  everywhere  attainable, 
except  with  the  aid  of  the  slow  processes  of  time. 
In  saying  that  much  still  remains  to  be  accom- 
plished in  this  way,  I  am,  therefore,  only  stating 
in  other  terms  that  our  educational  development 
is  still  incomplete,  and  that  further  time  and  effort 
are  required  to  bring  it  to  full  maturity.  The 
purpose  of  this  Chapter  is,  to  point  out  the  places 
where  this  further  development  is  most  urgently 
needed,  and  to  suggest  the  means  by  which  it  may 
best  be  brought  about. 

The  question  of  the  relations  of  the  college  and 
the  parish  school  may  be  passed  over  for  the  pres- 
ent, since  their  respective  interests  appear  to  be  so 
far  apart.  With  the  college  and  the  high  school, 
however,  the  case  is  different.  They  clearly  have 
mutual  interests.  The  high  school  curriculum 
should  fit  into  the  college  curriculum,  or,  at  least, 
be  capable  of  preparing  effectively  for  it.  The 
Catholic  high  school  should  direct  its  graduates 
by  preference  to  the  Catholic  college;  the  college 
should  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  high  school. 
Yet,  until  quite  recently,  the  Catholic  college  and 
the  Catholic  high  school  stood  far  apart.  The 
colleges,  with  their  own  preparatory  departments, 
manifested  little  interest  in  other  secondary  schools. 


52  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

When,  a  couple  of  decades  ago,  Catholic  high 
schools  began  to  increase  rapidly  in  number,  no 
effort  was  made  by  the  colleges  to  get  in  touch 
with  these  new  institutions.  It  was  only  after 
the  Catholic  Educational  Association  was  organ- 
ized, and  it  was  shown  by  investigation  that  many 
of  the  new  high  schools  were  being  affiliated  to  the 
non-Catholic  colleges  and  state  universities,  that 
Catholic  colleges  began  to  take  an  active  interest 
in  the  high-school  movement.  A  resolution  ex- 
pressive of  sympathy  with  this  movement  was 
offered  at  one  of  the  early  meetings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, but  it  met  with  decided  opposition,  and 
several  years  passed  before  the  colleges  came  to 
realize  that  the  resolution  merited  approval. 
College  men  appeared  to  fear  that  the  new  high 
schools  menaced  their  own  preparatory  depart- 
ments. 

Much  the  same  has  been  the  situation  with 
regard  to  the  high  schools  and  the  elementary 
schools.  Until  recently,  nearly  all  the  high  schools 
were  conducted  by  the  religious  orders,  and  had  no 
direct  connection  with  the  neighboring  parish 
schools.  Each  high  school  had  its  elementary 
department,  and  became,  to  this  extent,  a  rival  of 
the  parish  schools.  It  enrolled  pupils  whom  the 
pastors  wished  to  see  attending  their  own  parish 
schools  until  the  completion  of  the  eighth  grade. 


INNER  RELATIONS  53 

The  elementary  departments  thus  became  a  source 
of  weakness  to  the  high  schools,  and  served  to 
alienate  from  them  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
the  pastors.  Like  the  preparatory  departments 
in  the  colleges,  these  elementary  schools  have  been 
maintained  to  serve  as  feeders  for  the  higher  de- 
partments, and  to  increase  the  financial  receipts. 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  continuance  of 
the  preparatory  departments  in  the  colleges — a 
subject  that  will  be  discussed  later  on  1 — there  is 
little  to  justify  the  continuance  of  the  elementary 
departments  in  the  high  schools,  save  in  excep- 
tional circumstances.  They  are  no  longer  neces- 
sary as  feeders  to  the  high  schools,  and  any  loss  of 
revenue  their  discontinuance  might  entail  could  be 
supplied  by  increased  attendance  in  the  high  school 
proper,  brought  about  through  the  cultivation  of 
closer  relations  with  the  parish  schools. 

Even  aside  from  this  cause  of  friction,  however, 
existing  Catholic  high  schools  often  fail  to  obtain 
the  recognition  and  support  they  deserve,  except 
where,  as  in  Philadelphia  and  some  other  places, 
the  high  school  is  under  the  direct  control  of  the 
Ordinary  of  the  diocese,  and  thus  has  a  diocesan 
character.  A  zealous  pastor,  after  building  up  a 
high  school  with  much  trouble  and  expense,  finds 
that,  gladly  as  he  would  welcome  pupils  from  other 
1  See  Chapter  VIII. 


54  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

parishes,  the  attendance  is  confined  strictly  to  his 
own  parish;  and  he  thus  succeeds  only  in  adding 
one  more  to  the  already  large  number  of  parish 
high  schools.  Frequently,  a  number  of  such  parish 
high  schools  are  to  be  found  in  the  same  city,  each 
with  a  small  enrollment,  when  their  combined 
enrollment  would  no  more  than  suffice  for  a  single 
strong  school.  The  result  is,  to  say  the  least,  any- 
thing but  conducive  to  efficiency  and  economy  in 
education. 

Causes  of  Lack  of  Cooperation 

What  are  the  causes  of  this  lack  of  cooperation 
between  parish  school,  high  school,  and  college, 
united,  as  they  are,  by  religious  bonds  as  well  as 
by  their  ultimate  educational  purpose?  Some  of 
the  causes  have  already  been  mentioned.  Crit- 
icisms of  the  college  that  are  occasionally  heard 
would  suggest  the  conclusion  that  the  college  is 
actuated  only  by  a  narrow  individualism  in  its 
dealings  with  the  lower  schools.  The  same  atti- 
tude has  been  attributed  by  a  Catholic  editor  to 
parish  priests  and  bishops  in  their  treatment  of  the 
broader  needs  and  interests  of  the  Church: 

The  blight  of  parish  individualism  is  at  our  roots.  .  .  . 
We  are  a  string  of  parishes  and  dioceses  instead  of  a  living 
organism.  We  have  the  unity  of  faith  and  authority — as 
for  the  rest  we  pull  apart,  hither  and  thither.    Each  bishop 


INNER  RELATIONS  55 

has  his  own  ideals,  notions  and  projects,  and  each  parish 
is  stamped  with  an  individualistic  narrowness  that  bodes  not 
well.1 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the 
diocese,  the  parish,  and  the  college  are  bound 
by  their  very  nature  to  be,  to  some  extent,  self- 
centered.  This,  in  itself,  would  be  no  obstacle 
to  their  effective  cooperation.  There  is  another 
explanation  for  this  lack  of  cooperation — I  refer, 
of  course,  only  to  education — an  explanation  that 
is  more  just,  as  it  is  likewise  more  in  accord  with 
all  the  facts.  The  condition,  where  it  does  exist, 
is  generally  traceable  to  the  peculiar  difficulties 
which  attended  the  growth  of  the  Church  through- 
out the  United  States,  and  which  compelled  bish- 
ops and  priests  to  concentrate  their  attention 
upon  local  and  immediate  educational  problems 
of  pressing  importance,  to  the  exclusion  or  neg- 
lect, for  the  time  being,  of  more  general  educa- 
tional interests. 

It  was,  in  fact,  utterly  impossible  in  the  begin- 
ning for  the  bishops,  parish  priests,  and  religious 
superiors  to  establish  or  devise  a  comprehensive 
system  of  education  that  should  include  all  Cath- 
olic institutions.  They  were  wholly  preoccupied 
with  problems  that  involved  the  very  existence  of 

1  The  Monitor,  Newark,  N.  J.,  quoted  in  New  Century, 
Jan.  17,  1914. 


56  CATHOLIC   EDUCATION 

those  institutions  for  which  they  had  direct  respon- 
sibility. Nor  was  effective  organization  or  even 
cooperation  feasible,  the  existing  schools  and  col- 
leges being  so  few  and  so  widely  scattered.  These 
conditions  changed  but  very  slowly  during  the 
first  fifty  years  following  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. When  the  great  tide  of  Irish  and  German 
immigration  set  in,  towards  the  middle  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  the  material  side  of  the  edu- 
cational work  that  had  already  been  accomplished 
had  to  be  begun  all  over  again.  It  became  once 
more  a  question  of  building  schools  and  colleges 
and  providing  for  their  maintenance.  And  the 
money  for  the  schools  had  all  to  be  obtained 
from  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people.  It  was 
not  until  towards  the  time  of  the  Third  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1884,  that  the  condition 
of  Catholic  education  made  it  possible  for  the 
bishops  and  religious  superiors  to  give  special 
attention  to  its  more  general  needs,  and  to  pro- 
vide for  its  better  organization. 

The  work  of  organization  was  really  taken  in 
hand  just  as  soon  as  it  was  practicable.  It  will  be 
instructive  to  recount 

What  Has  Been  Accomplished 

by  way  of  organization  and  cooperation  in  the 
period  that  has  elapsed  since  then. 


INNER  RELATIONS  57 

As  early  as  1852,  Bishop  John  Nepomucene 
Neumann,  of  Philadelphia,  was  endeavoring  to 
systematize  the  educational  work  of  the  parishes 
in  his  diocese;  but  events  proved  that  the  time 
was  not  yet  ripe  for  this.  A  real  diocesan  system 
of  education,  involving  supervision  and  examina- 
tion of  all  parish  schools  by  a  diocesan  school 
board,  was  established  by  Bishop  Joseph  Dwenger, 
of  Fort  Wayne,  in  1879.  This  plan  was  adopted 
by  other  bishops,  approved  by  the  Fourth  Pro- 
vincial Council  of  Cincinnati,  three  years  later, 
and  became  the  basis  of  the  school  system  imposed 
upon  all  the  dioceses  by  the  Third  Plenary  Council 
of  Baltimore.1  Since  then,  the  work  of  perfecting 
this  diocesan  school  system  has  made  steady 
progress.  The  chief  improvements  introduced 
have  been,  the  placing  of  the  practical  work  of 
supervision  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  the  super- 
intendent of  schools,  as  the  executive  officer  of  the 
diocesan  school  board;  and  the  bringing  of  the 
religious  teachers  more  effectively  within  the  in- 
fluence of  the  superintendent,  through  the  insti-. 
tution  of  a  board  of  assistants  to  him  known  as 
community  inspectors  of  schools.2 

1  Burns,  Growth  and  Development  of  the  Cath.  Sch.  System, 
p.  199  seq. 

2 lb.,  207  seq.]   Wright,  Roman  Catholic  Schools,  in  Rep. 
of  Comm.  of  Ed.  for  1912, 1,  p.  230. 


58  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

A  movement  towards  the  establishment  of 
secondary  schools  as  a  part  of  the  diocesan  school 
system  was  inaugurated  by  Thomas  E.  Cahill,  of 
Philadelphia,  by  the  founding  of  the  Central  High 
School  for  Boys  in  that  city,  in  1S73.1  The  school 
was  amply  endowed,  and  provided  accommodation 
for  over  four  hundred  pupils.  This  important 
step  in  the  direction  of  better  educational  organi- 
zation has  exercised  a  wide  and  permanent  influ- 
ence. In  several  other  dioceses,  similar  central 
high  schools  have  been  founded  under  diocesan 
control.  Many  of  the  bishops  are  but  awaiting  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  carry  out  the  same  plan. 
Philadelphia  has  recently  witnessed  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  large  sectional  high  school  for  boys 
and  of  a  central  high  school  for  girls,  the  teaching 
staff  of  the  latter  institution  being  composed  of 
members  of  four  distinct  communities  of  nuns.2 
Such  facts  are  evidence  of  the  perfection  to  which 
the  diocesan  school  system  has  been  brought  in 
that  historic  cradle  of  Catholic  education. 

Nor  have  efforts  been  wanting  to  bring  the 
dioceses  and  the  colleges  into  closer  touch.  In 
1906,  with  this  end  in  view,  a  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  Catholic  College  Conference  ap- 
peared  before   the   archbishops   at  their  annual 

1  Burns,  op.  cit.,  p.  363. 

2McDevitt,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1912-13,  p.  8. 


INNER  RELATIONS  59 

conference  in  Washington.  As  a  result,  three 
archbishops  were  selected  to  meet  a  committee  of 
prominent  college  educators,  at  the  Milwaukee 
Convention  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Asso- 
ciation, during  the  following  summer.  It  was 
hoped  by  many  that  such  a  discussion  would  lead 
to  further  conferences  of  the  same  kind,  and,  per- 
haps, to  regular  annual  meetings.  Unfortunately, 
the  topics  to  be  discussed  jointly  were  not  agreed 
upon  beforehand,  and  the  meeting  was  without 
definite  advantageous  results. 

Much  has  been  done,  however,  towards  bringing 
the  dioceses  and  the  colleges  into  closer  educational 
relations  through  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Association.  The  beginnings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, which  dates  from  the  year  1899,  were  feeble 
enough;  but,  with  the  aid  and  encouragement  of 
the  bishops,  it  has  grown  larger  and  stronger  year 
by  year.  Its  policy  has  been  to  bring  representa- 
tives of  the  schools,  high  schools,  colleges  and 
seminaries  into  active  cooperation,  through  joint 
discussions  of  the  larger  and  more  common  prob- 
lems of  Catholic  education,  while  leaving  to  each 
affiliated  conference  or  section  all  matters  per- 
taining to  its  own  proper  sphere.  Outside  of  the 
general  conventions,  it  provides  for  meetings  from 
time  to  time  of  representatives  of  the  colleges  and 
schools,  and  of  the  colleges  and  seminaries,  for 


60  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

the  consideration  of  questions  affecting  the  rela- 
tions of  these  respective  institutions.  The  work 
of  these  joint  committees,  besides  being  directly 
and  practically  helpful,  has  contributed  much  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  cooperation.  The 
Association  has  thus  become  a  practical  bond  of 
union  between  all  Catholic  educational  agencies. 

Lines  of  Future  Progress 

The  developments  that  have  been  noted,  in  the 
way  of  educational  organization  and  cooperation, 
indicate  clearly  the  lines  of  progress  for  the 
future.  It  is  evident  that  there  is  need  of  closer 
educational  relations  between  the  colleges  and 
the  pastors,  between  the  colleges  and  the  commu- 
nities engaged  in  secondary  education,  and  be- 
tween the  colleges  and  the  bishops. 

The  pastor  is  usually  in  charge  of  the  educa- 
tion of  Catholic  children  up  to  their  fourteenth 
year,  and  he  is  likely  to  have  considerable  influ- 
ence in  the  selecting  of  the  college  for  the  boy,  and 
the  academy  for  the  girl.  If  the  schools  are  to  be 
brought  closer  to  the  colleges,  it  is,  therefore, 
necessary  that  the  cooperation  of  the  pastors 
should  be  secured.  Causes  of  friction,  however 
slight  in  themselves,  should  be  studiously  avoided 
or  removed.  Much  could  be  effected  through 
friendly  visits  to  neighboring  parish  schools  by 


INNER  RELATIONS  61 

members  of  a  college  faculty.  Pastors  are  espe- 
cially pleased  to  see  representatives  of  the  colleges 
present  at  the  closing  exercises  of  the  schools  in 
June,  and  at  other  formal  school  exercises  during 
the  year.  Their  mere  presence  is  an  encourage- 
ment, and  tends  to  enhance  the  importance  of  the 
parish  school  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  And  what  is 
more  fitting  than  that  such  sympathy  and  support 
should  be  freely  given  to  the  heads  of  the  parish 
schools  by  our  highest  academic  authorities?  It 
is  not  too  much  to  assert  that  many  hundreds  of 
Catholic  boys  who  make  their  way  annually  to 
non-Catholic  colleges  might  be  drawn  to  our  own 
colleges,  if  the  authorities  of  the  latter  would  take 
more  pains  to  manifest,  in  practical  ways,  their 
interest  in  the  parish  schools. 

Pastors,  on  the  other  hand,  ought  to  interest 
themselves  in  every  grade  of  Catholic  education, 
seeing  that  the  same  principle  and  purpose  runs 
through  it  all,  and  that  the  parish  schools  and  the 
colleges  must  ultimately  stand  or  fall  together. 
Organizations  such  as  the  Catholic  Educational 
Association  should  enlist  the  name  and  active 
support  of  every  priest  who  has  responsibility  for 
a  Catholic  school.  Within  recent  years,  a  course 
of  lectures  in  pedagogy  and  school  management  has 
been  introduced  into  a  number  of  the  leading 
seminaries.    This  new  movement  promises  much 


62  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

for  the  parish  schools  of  the  future,  and  it  will 
probably  be  of  scarcely  less  benefit  to  the  colleges. 
A  pastor  who  has  an  enlightened  interest  in  the 
educational  work  of  his  own  school,  can  hardly 
fail  to  have  a  lively  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
Catholic  college. 

All  this  is  equally  applicable  to  the  colleges  and 
high  schools.  It  is  indispensable  that  college 
authorities  should  cultivate  the  most  friendly  and 
sympathetic  attitude  towards  the  teaching  com- 
munities engaged  in  secondary  education.  The 
greatest  need  of  the  teaching  communities,  espe- 
cially the  brotherhoods,  is  vocations.  Their  novi- 
tiates and  houses  of  study  should,  therefore,  be 
objects  of  friendly  solicitude  to  the  priests  of  the 
college  faculty,  as  well  as  to  other  priests  of  the 
same  religious  order  who  may  be  stationed  in 
parishes.  College  men  ought  to  take  an  active 
interest  in  the  Catholic  high  school  movement, 
and  endeavor  so  to  shape  its  development  as  to 
provide  duly  for  the  interests  of  the  colleges. 
The  high  school  can  be  made  an  effective  link  be- 
tween the  parish  school  and  the  college.  Only 
through  the  high  school,  in  fact,  can  anything 
approaching  a  thorough  and  systematic  organ- 
ization of  all  our  educational  efforts  be  ex- 
pected. 

It  is,  however,  to  the  bishops  that  we  must  look 


INNER  RELATIONS  63 

for  the  solution  of  some  of  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lems involved  in  the  completion  of  the  work  of 
Catholic  educational  organization  and  cooperation. 
The  bishops  have  control  over  the  diocesan  edu- 
cational systems,  including  elementary  schools 
and  high  schools.  Without  them,  little  can,  there- 
fore, be  done  towards  bringing  schools  and  col- 
leges into  closer  touch.  Through  their  authority 
and  influence,  on  the  other  hand,  any  desirable 
degree  of  organization  and  cooperation  should  not 
be  unattainable. 

A  few  years  ago,  the  bishop  and  parish  clergy  of 
the  Diocese  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  erected  a  hand- 
some dormitory  building  at  Holy  Cross  College, 
as  a  gift  from  the  diocese.  The  spirit  that  prompted 
this  generous  action  is,  no  doubt,  an  asset  of  even 
greater  value  to  the  institution  than  the  material 
structure  donated.  Since  then,  the  bishop  and 
priests  of  one  of  the  western  dioceses  have  under- 
taken a  similar  benefaction  for  the  college  in  the 
diocese.  It  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  expected  that 
such  benefactions  will  be  possible  everywhere. 
But  the  same  sympathetic  relations  between  col- 
lege and  diocese  are  surely  realizable  everywhere. 
The  success  of  the  Catholic  colleges  is  of  vital 
importance  for  religion.  Without  an  educated 
laity  whose  life-principles  are  grounded  in  Cath- 
olic philosophy,  and  whose  minds  are  trained  to 


64  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

instinctive  sympathy  with  everything  Catholic, 
the  Church  in  America  would  be  deprived  of  her 
main  arm  of  defense.  Nor  could  the  parish 
schools  long  survive  the  colleges.  Experience 
has  abundantly  shown  that,  in  this  country  at 
least,  Catholic  laymen  of  this  stamp  are  not  apt 
to  be  the  product  of  non-Catholic  colleges  or  uni- 
versities. 

But  apart  from  the  needs  of  the  colleges,  there 
are  many  defects  in  Catholic  education  that  would 
find  a  remedy,  if  the  efforts  of  college  authorities 
and  members  of  the  hierarchy  were  united  more 
closely  in  active  cooperation.  A  number  of  these 
defects  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  course  of 
the  present  Chapter.  Our  colleges  and  univer- 
sities must  be  looked  to  for  that  broad,  deep, 
philosophic  knowledge  of  education,  in  its  various 
processes,  which  is  derivable  only  from  a  study  of 
the  subject  in  institutions  of  higher  learning. 
They  must  supply  the  element  of  academic  leader- 
ship. But  professional  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence will  avail  little  for  the  proper  organization  of 
the  vast  and  complex  work  of  Catholic  education 
in  the  United  States,  without  the  active  coopera- 
tion of  the  bishops.  Proper  organization  will 
result  in  strengthening  individual  seminaries, 
colleges,  and  schools.  It  should  go  far  towards 
stopping  the  drift  of  Catholic  youth  of  both  sexes 


INNER  RELATIONS  65 

towards  non-Catholic  institutions  of  every  kind. 
It  will  prevent  untold  waste  of  effort  at  many 
points,  by  linking  all  our  educational  institutions 
together  in  closest  moral  union,  if  not  in  a  single 
comprehensive  system. 


CHAPTER  V 
TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN 

The  Diocesan  System1 

Catholic  elementary  education  is  organized 
along  diocesan  lines.  Each  of  the  dioceses  has  its 
own  school  system,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the 
bishop.  The  bishops  are  bound  by  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore, 
which  has  established  an  educational  norm  for  all 
the  dioceses  in  essential  matters,  and  the  diocesan 
school  systems  are  consequently  very  much  alike. 
Usually,  one  hears  only  of  the  Catholic  school 
system.  Unity  and  variety,  stability  and  elas- 
ticity are  thus  provided  for  in  Catholic  elementary 
education,  in  much  the  same  way  as  they  are 
secured  in  the  civil  order  by  the  division  of  author- 
ity between  the  Federal  Government  and  the 
States. 

In  accordance  with  the  legislation  of  the  Third 
Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  the  control  of  the 
diocesan  school  system  is  vested  in  the  diocesan 

1  For  the  number  of  elementary  schools,  pupils  and  teach- 
ers, cf.  Chapter  I,  supra,  p.  2. 

66 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  67 

school  board,  which  consists  of  a  number  of  the 
more  influential  clergy,  presided  over  by  the 
bishop.  Most  of  the  larger  dioceses  now  have  an 
inspector  or  superintendent  of  schools  as  the 
executive  officer  of  the  school  board,  and  many  of 
them  have  also  community  inspectors  of  schools. 
The  community  inspector  is  practically  an  assist- 
ant superintendent,  with  supervision  over  the 
schools  that  are  in  charge  of  his  or  her  religious 
community  within  the  diocese.1 

The  pastor  is,  by  right,  the  head  of  the  parish 
school.  In  some  respects,  he  is  the  most  important 
factor  in  the  entire  school  system.  Apart  from 
matters  relating  to  the  material  and  religious  well- 
being  of  the  school,  however,  the  teachers  have 
full  charge  of  the  work,  and  when  they  are 
religious,  as  is  generally  the  case,  the  actual  prin- 
cipal of  the  school  is  their  immediate  religious 
superior.  The  religious  teachers  usually  live  in 
or  near  the  school  building,  which  is  almost  invari- 
ably in  close  proximity  to  the  parish  church. 

1  For  an  account  of  the  development  of  the  organization 
of  the  diocesan  school  system,  cf.  the  author's  Growth  and 
Bevel,  of  Cath.  Sch.  Sys.,  p.  199  seq.  For  a  discussion  of  the 
problems  connected  with  diocesan  supervision,  cf.  paper 
of  Rev.  E.  F.  Gibbons,  School  Supervision — its  Necessity, 
Aims,  and  Methods,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  II, 
p.  164. 


68  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Besides  eight-grade  elementary  schools,  the 
diocesan  school  system  includes  kindergartens 
and  high  schools.  Of  late  years,  Catholics  have 
been  giving  more  attention  to  the  establishment  of 
kindergartens,  and  in  many  dioceses  the  kinder- 
garten class  has  become  a  regular  feature  of  the 
parish  school.  Experience  shows  that  children 
who  have  had  a  good  kindergarten  training  progress 
more  rapidly  in  the  lower  grades.  Moreover,  if 
they  take  kindergarten  work  in  the  public  schools, 
they  are  likely  to  continue  to  attend  these  schools.1 

We  have  now  to  consider  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant questions  in  respect  to  the  diocesan  school 
system  that  are  engaging  the  attention  of  Catholic 
educators.2 

The  Teaching 

An  experienced  diocesan  superintendent  recently 
expressed  the  opinion,  that  the  most  urgent  needs 
of  the  parish  schools  at  present  are,  "  Better  teach- 
ers; more  teachers,  and  better  equipment;  and 
the  keeping  of  all  Catholic  children  through  the 
grades  and  the  high  school."3  Something  has 
already  been  said  about  the  efficiency  of  the  train- 

1  Rev.  A.  V.  Garthoeffner,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn. 
VIII,  p.  340. 

2  Cf.  Bro.  John  Waldron,  The  Organization  of  a  Diocesan 
School  System,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  XI,  p.  254. 

3  Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  in  letter  to  author. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  69 

ing  of  Catholic  teachers,  as  compared  with  teachers 
in  the  public  schools.1  Satisfactory  as  is  the 
training  of  our  teachers,  from  this  comparative 
point  of  view,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
greatest  need  of  the  parish  schools  is  still  the 
better  preparation  of  the  teacher. 

Educational  experience  proves  the  necessity  of 
providing  fully  for  the  preparation  of  the  teacher  in 
the  regular  training  course  of  the  teaching  order. 
All  other  plans  are  but  makeshifts,  and  can  bring 
but  temporary  or  partial  improvement.  The  train- 
ing course,  comprising  the  postulate,  novitiate, 
and  normal  school  proper,  must  be  strengthened 
and  developed,  if  the  teaching  in  the  schools 
is  to  be  improved  and  vitalized.  Such  was  the 
view  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council,  of  Baltimore. 
One  of  the  chief  functions  of  the  diocesan  school 
board,  as  decreed  by  the  Council,  was  to  be  the 
examination  of  teachers;  and  no  lay  teacher  or 
member  of  a  diocesan  teaching  community  was  to 
be  allowed  to  teach,  without  having  passed  the 
examination  of  the  diocesan  board  and  received  a 
teacher's  diploma.  The  diploma  was  to  be  valid 
for  five  years.  After  this  period,  another  and  final 
examination  was  to  be  required.2    The  object  was 

1  Chapter  I,  supra,  p.  8  seq. 

2  Cone.  Plen.  Bait.  Ill  Acta  et  Decreta,  n.  203;  Burns, 
op.  cit.,  pp.  201,  211. 


70  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

made  plain:  it  was  to  provide  a  corps  of  better 
trained  teachers  for  the  schools,  and,  as  a  means  to 
this,  the  work  of  the  training  course  was  to  be 
strengthened  and  prolonged. 

This  plan,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  examination 
and  certification  of  teachers,  has  not  proven  a 
success.  The  scheme  did  not  include  non-diocesan 
communities,  and  in  many  dioceses  the  great 
majority  of  the  teachers  belong  to  this  category. 
This,  in  itself,  was  almost  a  fatal  drawback.  In- 
herently, there  is  no  more  reason  for  subjecting 
diocesan  communities  to  the  requirements  of 
examination  and  certification  than  there  is  for 
subjecting  non-dioceson  communities  to  such 
requirements.  Again,  no  program  of  studies  was 
drawn  up  by  the  diocesan  boards  for  the  com- 
munity training  courses,  nor,  indeed,  could  this 
reasonably  be  expected  of  the  boards.  Without 
a  definite  prescribed  program  of  studies,  as  the 
subject-matter  or  basis  for  the  examinations,  it 
was  inevitable  that  these,  if  held  at  all,  should 
come  to  partake  of  the  character  of  a  mere  for- 
mality.1 As  a  matter  of  fact,  responsibility  for 
the  preparation  of  the  teachers  has  generally  been 
left  to  the  religious  superiors.  This  is  the  situa- 
tion at  present. 

The  aim  of  the  legislation  of  the  Third  Plenary 
1  Bro.  John  Waldron,  op.  cit. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  71 

Council  on  this  point  may,  however,  be  attained 
by  the  diocesan  authorities,  through  super- 
vision of  the  program  and  work  of  the  community 
training  courses.  This  task  will  naturally  fall  to 
the  diocesan  superintendents.  Far  more  effective 
than  the  scheme  of  examination  and  certification 
by  the  diocesan  school  board,  will  be  the  careful 
study  of  the  community  training  courses  by  those 
in  the  diocese  who  are  professionally  competent — 
the  superintendent  and  the  community  inspectors. 
Their  united  recommendations  would  have  almost 
the  force  of  laws;  for  no  one  of  the  many  com- 
munities concerned  would  care  to  run  the  risk  of 
being  backward  in  a  matter  so  important.  Rarely, 
if  ever,  should  it  become  necessary  for  the  bishop 
to  take  up  the  matter  personally  with  the  religious 
superiors.  Were  there  assurance  as  to  the  pro- 
gram of  studies  followed  in  the  training  courses, 
and  the  competency  of  teaching  staffs,  the  exami- 
nation of  the  candidates  for  teaching  in  the  dio- 
cesan schools  might  well  be  left  to  the  community 
authorities. 

Not  less  important  than  the  program  of  studies 
in  the  community  training  courses,  is  the  educa- 
tion of  the  teachers  who  are  to  carry  out  that 
program.  Experience  has  shown  that  a  single 
very  capable  teacher  in  the  normal  school  is  able 
to  raise  the  standard  of  teaching  throughout  the 


72  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

entire  community.  A  few  thoroughly  educated 
men  or  women,  with  the  high  ideals  and  noble 
enthusiasm  that  spring  from  the  pursuit  of  the 
scientific  study  of  education,  will  be  able,  through 
the  training  of  young  teachers  in  the  normal  school, 
to  improve  the  quality  of  the  teaching  in  hundreds 
of  parish  schools.  Nor  will  their  influence  be  con- 
fined to  the  particular  community  or  diocese  in 
which  they  labor.  The  most  hopeful  outlook  at 
present  for  the  improvement  of  the  teaching  in  the 
parish  schools  is,  that  ^o  many  of  the  religious 
orders  are  endeavoring  to  educate  very  thoroughly 
their  more  gifted  and  promising  young  teachers.1 
The  difficulties  that  stand  in  the  way  of  a  more 
thorough  preparation  of  teachers  for  their  work  in 
the  schools,  come  chiefly  from  the  lack  of  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  vocations  to  the  teaching  orders. 
Young  religious,  who  are  still  far  from  the  comple- 
tion of  the  work  of  the  normal  school,  are  often 
sent  out  into  the  schools  and  academies  to  teach, 
with  but  slight  prospect  of  ever  being  able  to  com- 
plete their  education.  Many  of  these  would  be 
capable  of  rendering  incalculably  more  fruitful 
educational  service,  if  they  were  more  thoroughly 
trained.  Their  superiors  may  be  willing  enough  to 
afford  them  this  training;  but  there  are  not  teachers 
enough  for  the  schools  and  academies,  as  matters 
1  Cf.  Chapter  I,  p.  n. 


TEACHING  THE   CHILDREN  73 

stand,  and  how  can  these  young  teachers  be  spared? 
No  one  can  blame  the  religious  superiors;  yet, 
gifted  minds  are  left  undeve'oped,  and  Catholic 
education  is  decidedly  the  loser  by  it  in  the  long 
run. 

It  is  true,  in  very  many  instances,  that  the  schools 
are  not  sufficiently  staffed.  "  More  teachers,"  is 
the  second  urgent  need  of  the  parish  schools, 
according  to  the  superintendent  quoted  above. 
To  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  this,  one  need  only 
visit  the  crowded  classrooms  of  many  of  our  city 
schools,  especially  in  the  primary  department. 
Seventy,  and  even  eighty,  children  may  not  infre- 
quently be  found  in  charge  of  a  single  teacher.  In 
one  of  the  larger  western  dioceses,  a  community 
that  has  charge  of  twenty-three  schools  has  an 
average  of  fifty  pupils  to  the  teacher.  In  an  east- 
ern diocese,  in  which  the  parish  school  system  may 
be  said  to  be  as  well  organized  as  it  is  anywhere 
else  in  the  country,  a  community  with  thirty-seven 
schools  has  an  average  of  fifty-four  pupils  to  the 
teacher;  another  community,  with  five  schools, 
has  fifty-eight  pupils  to  the  teacher.1  In  schools 
for  foreign  nationalities,  the  disproportion  is  often 
still  greater.  One  community,  in  charge  of  twenty- 
five  Polish  schools,  has,  on  an  average,  only  one 
teacher  to  every  sixty-four  pupils;  another,  with 
1  Reports  of  diocesan  superintendents. 


74  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

six  schools,  has  only  one  teacher  to  every  seventy 
pupils.1 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  no  teacher  should 
have  more  than  forty  pupils,  even  in  the  primary 
grades,  and  that  ordinarily  the  quality  of  the  teach- 
ing is  bound  to  suffer  when  the  number  becomes 
greater  than  this.  The  teacher  is  physically  unable 
to  attend  properly  to  more  than  a  limited  number 
of  pupils;  and  besides,  there  is  the  matter  of  ven- 
tilation, involving  possible  detriment  to  their 
health,  application  and  morale.  The  fact  that 
the  evils  of  overcrowding  may  not  be  greater  in  the 
parish  schools  than  they  are  in  the  public  schools, 
is  no  excuse  for  indifference  on  our  part  in  regard 
to  these  evils.  The  condition  described,  wherever 
it  exists,  is  bad.  To  tolerate  it  is  to  run  the  risk 
of  losing  all  the  advantages  of  the  Catholic  school, 
and  of  allowing  the  self-sacrificing  labors  of  devoted 
religious  teachers  to  remain  barren  of  fruit. 

A  short-sighted  parochial  economy  is  sometimes 
responsible  for  this  condition.  But  more  often  it 
is  due  to  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  sufficient 
number  of  religious  teachers.  All  the  teaching 
communities  are  in  urgent  need  of  more  subjects. 
All  of  them  have  demands  every  year  for  more 
teachers  in  existing  schools,  as  well  as  offers  of  new 
schools.    Hundreds  of  new  parish  schools  might  be 

1  Bums,  Growth  and  Devel.  of  the  Cath.  Sch.  Sys.,  p.  317. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  75 

cpened  every  year,  if  the  communities  could  sup- 
ply the  teachers.  Neither  pastors  nor  people  will 
be  satisfied  with  lay  teachers,  as  long  as  there  is  the 
possibility  of  getting  Sisters  or  Brothers.  Since 
fully  one-half  of  the  Catholic  children  of  the  land 
still  attend  the  public  schools,  it  is  evident  that  the 
increase  of  the  membership  of  the  teaching  orders  is 
vitally  connected  with  the  interests  of  Catholic 
education  in  a  quantitative  as  well  as  a  qualitative 
way. 

The  novitiates  of  the  teaching  orders  ought  to 
contain  twice  as  many  candidates  as  they  have  at 
present.  If  all  pastors  would  take  an  active  per- 
sonal interest  in  fostering  such  vocations,  the  total 
number  in  the  novitiates  could  easily  be  doubled 
within  a  few  years.  There  is  no  intention  here  of 
implying  that  there  has  been  a  neglect  of  positive 
duty  on  the  part  of  the  parish  clergy.  It  is  a 
question  of  duty  only  in  the  larger  sense — of  that 
finer  priestly  zeal  that  knows  no  parochial  bound- 
aries, and  is  ever  stirred  and  quickened  by  the 
vital  fneeds  and  supreme  interests  of  the  Church. 
The  Catholic  school  system,  as  it  stands,  is  the 
splendid  product  of  such  priestly  zeal. 

The  Curriculum 

The  school  curriculum  may  conveniently  be  con- 
sidered  under   two   aspects,    content   and   length. 


76  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

The  Catholic  school  has  been  affected  by  prac- 
tically the  same  conditions  as  the  public  school, 
and  Catholic  educators  are  confronted  by  the  same 
problems  in  regard  to  the  curriculum  as  non- 
Catholic  educators.1  Thus,  in  respect  to  content, 
the  parish-school  curriculum  has  undergone  much 
the  same  transformation  as  the  public-school 
curriculum,  and  from  the  same  causes.  Over  one- 
half  of  the  studies  in  the  parish  school  today 
represent  additions  that  have  been  made  to  the 
curriculum  since  about  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  older  or  "  formal  "  studies 
— reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  grammar,  and 
spelling,  together  with  some  geography  and  history 
— have  retained  their  place;  but  alongside  of  them 
has  been  placed  the  long  list  of  subjects  known 
as  "  real  "  studies,  representing  language  and  lit- 
erature, and  the  elementary  arts  and  sciences. 
The  teaching  of  the  older  branches  has  also,  to  a 
great  extent,  been  transformed  by  the  introduction 
of  empirical  methods. 

The  multiplication  of  studies  in  the  school  has 
resulted  in  overloading  the  curriculum,  and  the 
need  of  simplifying  it  is  generally  acknowledged. 
As  to  just  how  this  is  to  be  brought  about,  how- 
ever, there  are  conflicting  views.  Some  educators 
would  simplify  the  curriculum  by  cutting  down  still 
1  Cf.  Chapter  I,  p.  7. 


TEACHING  THE   CHILDREN  77 

further  the  time  allotted  to  such  studies  as  arith- 
metic and  grammar,  and  by  aiming  at  a  unifica- 
tion of  classwork  and  study  through  the  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  of  correlation.  Others  favor 
the  cutting  out  altogether  of  many  of  the  "  real  " 
studies,  or  so-called  "  fads."  Business  men 
clamor  for  the  "  three  R's  " — for  clerks  who  can 
write,  spell,  and  figure  well,  whether  they  may 
know  anything  more  or  not.  Many  Catholics 
believe  that,  if  more  time  were  devoted  in  school 
to  the  old  "  formal  "  studies,  our  youth  would 
have  a  better  chance  of  securing  good  positions 
in  the  business  world  after  they  leave  school. 

Such  arguments  are  plausible.  They  appeal  to 
the  practical  instinct.  Nevertheless,  adjustment 
to  one's  environment,  in  this  narrow,  utilitarian 
sense,  can  never  wisely  be  made  the  dominating 
principle  in  any  general  scheme  of  education. 
The  reason  is  simple.  Education  must  aim  to 
develop  and  train  the  whole  child — all  his  faculties 
or  powers,  all  his  emotions,  senses,  capacities.  If 
we  accept  this  view  of  the  function  of  education,  it 
would  seem  that  the  new  or  "  real  "  studies  are 
essentially  required  in  the  curriculum,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  calculated  to  develop  powers  that  are 
left  practically  untouched  by  the  older  studies. 
In  elementary  education  especially,  the  principle  of 
direct  utility  must  be  applied  with  caution.    Super- 


78  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

ficial  results  naturally  show  themselves  quickly. 
A  boy  who  can  figure,  write,  and  spell  better  than 
another  may  not  be  nearly  so  well  educated  as  the 
latter,  and,  in  the  long  run,  may  fall  far  behind  him 
in  the  race  of  life.  The  product  of  the  modern 
educational  process  may  be,  as  it  is  claimed,  lack- 
ing in  accuracy,  definiteness  and  precision;  l  but 
this,  if  it  be  true,  must  result  rather  from  the 
method  than  from  the  subject-matter  made  use 
of.  Surely,  the  study  of  the  sciences  and  drawing 
must  tend  to  beget  habits  of  accuracy,  definiteness 
and  precision  not  less  than  does  the  study  of 
reading,  writing,  spelling,  and  arithmetic. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  demand  for  the  sim- 
plification of  the  curriculum  will  be  satisfied,  ulti- 
mately, through  the  more  successful  application  of 
the  principle  of  the  correlation  of  studies.  Sim- 
plification will  be  secured,  both  by  the  general 
arrangement  of  the  subject-matter  of  instruction, 
and  by  incidental  appeal  to  the  knowledge  derived 
from  all  the  other  branches  in  the  study  of  any 
particular  subject.2 

The  question  of  the  proper  length  of  the  curricu- 
lum is  one  that  is  receiving  much  attention  at  the 
present  time.  Most  American  educators  have 
come  to  believe  that  our  elementary  school  course 

»  Ed.  Rev.,  XLVII,  p.  106. 
2  Cf.  Chapter  III,  p.  33. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  79 

is  too  long.  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the 
work  which  the  school  now  takes  eight  years  to  do, 
could,  under  proper  conditions,  be  done  in  approx- 
imately six  years;  or,  in  other  words,  that  two  en- 
tire years  are  wasted  in  the  educational  process, 
between  the  beginning  and  the  completion  of  the 
elementary  school.  As  a  result,  it  is  pointed  out, 
the  American  young  man  is  two  years  older  than 
the  German  or  Italian  youth  when,  after  gradua- 
tion from  the  university  or  the  professional  school, 
the  real  work  of  life  is  begun.  On  the  Continent, 
there  is  a  longer  school  day  and  a  longer  school 
year  than  with  us,  as  well  as  more  intensive  study, 
and  pupils  there  cover  the  ground  of  our  eight- 
year  elementary  curriculum  in  a  shorter  time.1 

This  view  is  shared  by  many  prominent  Catholic 
educators.  The  members  of  the  Advisory  Board 
of  the  Catholic  Educational  Association,  in  191 2, 
adopted  a  plan  for  the  reorganization  of  elementary 
education  which  would  involve  the  cutting  down 
of  the  work  to  six  years.    Bro.  John  Waldron,  for 

»Cf.  Rep.  Comm.  of  Ed.,  1913,  pp.  XXEV-XXVI;  Rep. 
of  Committee  of  National  Council  of  Ed.  on  Economy  of 
Time  in  Education  (Bull.  No.  38,  U.  S.  Bur.  of  Ed.,  1913) ; 
Ed.  Rev.,  XLVII,  p.  28  seq.,  Experiences  of  an  American 
Exchange  Teacher  in  Germany;  Dr.  Chas.  L.  Dana,  address 
to  Schoolmasters'  Assn.  of  N.  Y.  City,  N.  Y.  Sun,  Jan.  25, 
1914. 


80  CATHOLIC   EDUCATION 

many  years  supervisor  of  the  schools  of  the 
Brothers  of  Mary,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
above-mentioned  association,  said: 

Inasmuch  as  this  paper  calls  for  a  completed  elementary 
education  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  year,  it  may  be  asked  with 
reason  whether  such  work  can  be  done  within  six  years. 
In  many  dioceses,  and  especially  where  there  is  excellent 
and  effective  diocesan  supervision,  it  can;  but,  frankly 
said,  in  some  schools  it  cannot  be  done,  as  long  as  certain 
obstacles  are  there  to  impede  the  work.1 

The  Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  former  superin- 
tendent of  schools  in  the  Archdiocese  of  Phila- 
delphia, is  of  the  same  opinion: 

With  better  teaching,  with  proper  conditions  in  our 
schools,  smaller  classes  and  a  longer  school  term,  the  work 
that  is  now  done  in  eight  years,  and  done  sometimes  badly, 
can  be  done  well  in  six  years.  Two  years  of  school  life 
can  thus  be  saved  for  higher  studies.2 

If  two  years  of  time  are  to  be  taken  from  the 
elementary  school,  what  is  the  boy  or  girl  to  do 
after  finishing  the  sixth  grade?  In  answer  to  this 
question,  it  may  be  said  that  a  number  of  plans 
are  being  tried.  The  one  adopted  by  the  Advisory 
Board   of   the   Catholic   Educational   Association 

1  How  many  Grades  should  there  be  in  the  Elementary 
School? — Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  VII,  p.  290. 

2  In  letter  to  the  author  Nov.  15,  1913.  Cf.  also,  The 
Present-day  Tendencies  in  Education,  by  Bro.  John  B.  Nichol, 
S.M.,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  XI,  p.  143. 


TEACHING  THE   CHILDREN  81 

involves  a  differentiation  of  curricula  at  the  end  of 
the  sixth  school  year;  pupils  going  on  for  high- 
school  work  would  at  once  begin  this,  while  the 
rest  would  devote  two  years  to  studies  supple- 
mentary to  those  already  had,  together  with  man- 
ual training.1  The  plan  of  Junior  and  Senior  High 
Schools  involves  the  division  of  the  high  school  into 
two  sections,  each  of  three  years'  length,  and  the 
admission  of  pupils  into  the  lower  section  after  their 
completion  of  the  sixth  grade.2  This  plan,  how- 
ever, will  not  result  in  shortening  the  entire  aca- 
demic period,  unless  the  college  should  accept  the 
work  of  the  last  two  years  of  the  high  school  in  lieu 
of  the  work  of  its  Freshman  and  Sophomore  years.3 
It  is  the  contention  of  the  Catholic  educators 
quoted  above,  and  of  many  experienced  non- 
Catholic  educators,  that,  under  proper  conditions, 
the  work  of  the  eight  years'  elementary  school  can 
be  done  in  six  years.  If  these  conditions  can  be 
brought  about,  and  two  years  of  the  elementary- 
school  period  saved,  the  boy  or  girl  would  begin 

1  Cf.  Chapter  VI,  p.  108;  also,  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn., 

IX,  p.  87;  and  the  paper  of  Rev.  Dr.  F.  W.  Howard,  on 
The  Problem  of  the  Curriculum,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn., 

X,  p.  132. 

2  Cf.  Rep.  of  the  Committee  of  the  National  Council  of 
Ed.,  on  Economy  of  Time  in  Education,  loc.  cit. 

3  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  Junior  and  Senior  High 
School  plan,  see  Chapter  VI,  p.  106. 


82  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

high  school  work  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen, 
and  finish  it  four  years  later.  There  is  no  valid 
reason  for  prolonging  the  high-school  period.  The 
really  important  reform  is  the  elimination  of  the 
enormous  waste  of  time  in  the  elementary  school. 
The  conditions  necessary,  in  order  to  bring  about 
this  reform,  are,  better  teaching  with  smaller 
classes,  more  intensive  study,  a  longer  school  day 
and  school  term,  and  the  avoidance  of  whatever 
is  opposed  to  economy  of  time.  Under  this  last 
head,  a  long-standing  abuse  in  Catholic  schools  is 
thus  characterized  by  one  who  has  had  wide  oppor- 
tunities for  observation: 

Beyond  any  doubt,  the  greatest  cause  of  loss  of  time  in 
our  educational  work  is  the  preparation  for  entertain- 
ments, as  it  is  carried  out  in  many  schools,  either  for  com- 
mencements or  for  purely  financial  purposes — especially 
entertainments  in  which,  to  secure  a  record  attendance  of 
parents  and  relations,  every  class,  and  when  possible  every 
child  in  the  class,  must  appear  on  the  stage,  regardless  alike 
of  the  histrionic  incapacity  of  teacher  and  pupils  for  such 
work.  I  feel  convinced  that  if  diocesan  school  boards 
would  get  the  actual  statistics  of  the  loss  of  time  involved 
in  the  preparation  of  entertainments,  every  endeavor  would 
be  made  to  suppress  them  entirely,  where  possible,  and  to 
reduce  them  to  a  minimum  where  they  must  remain  as 
necessary  evils.1 

1  Bro.  John  Waldron,  Grades  in  the  Elementary  School,  in 
Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  VII,  p.  281. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  83 

The  length  of  both  school  day  and  school  term 
has  been  cut  down  in  Catholic  schools,  after  the 
example  of  the  public  schools.  It  is  clear  now  that 
this  was  a  serious  mistake.  Pastors  and  teachers 
should  set  their  faces  resolutely  in  the  opposite 
direction.  It  will  take  time  to  recover  the  lost 
ground,  and  this  must  be  effected  by  a  concerted 
movement.  The  cultivation  of  the  habit  of  in- 
tensive study  by  pupils  is  dependent  upon  im- 
provement in  teaching  and  reduction  in  the  size 
of  classes.  These  matters  have  already  been 
discussed. 

Keeping  Children  at  School 

The  causes  of  the  retardation  and  elimination  of 
pupils  in  school  have  been  carefully  studied  during 
recent  years.  Catholic  schools  appear  to  be 
affected  by  these  causes  quite  as  much  as  the  public 
schools.  A  few  years  ago,  an  investigation  that 
covered  386  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  country  was 
made  by  the  Sage  Foundation.  The  results  showed 
that  of  every  eighteen  pupils  in  the  first  grade,  only 
ten  appeared  in  the  fifth  grade,  and  five  in  the 
eighth  grade,  while  only  one  out  of  the  eighteen 
went  on  to  the  high  school.1  In  one  of  our  large 
dioceses,  in  which  there  are  over  62,000  children 
enrolled  in  the  parish  schools,  37,000 — over  one- 

1  America,  May  27,  1911,  p.  165. 


84  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

half  of  the  entire  enrollment — are  in  the  first  grade. 
Between  the  fourth  and  fifth  grades,  in  the  same 
diocese,  the  enrollment  decreases  by  almost  one- 
half.  In  passing  from  the  sixth  to  the  seventh 
grade,  the  enrollment  is  halved  again,  and  the 
process  is  repeated  in  the  passage  from  the  seventh 
to  the  eighth  grade.  There  are  92  per  cent  more 
children  in  the  first  than  in  the  highest  or  eighth 
grade.1 

The  conditions  just  described  appear  to  be  typi- 
cal. This  means  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
pupils  in  our  schools  fail  to  gain  the  benefit  of  the 
full  course  of  instruction  and  training,  religious  and 
secular,  which  has  been  provided  for  them  at  such 
great  cost  and  sacrifice.  Most  of  them  drop  out 
long  before  they  come  to  the  end  of  the  course; 
a  large  proportion  of  those  who  stay  lag  behind  in 
their  work,  and  are  kept  much  of  the  time  going 
over  the  same  ground.  This  is  a  dark  shadow 
upon  our  schools.  It  is  not  brightened  in  the 
least  by  the  fact  that  the  public  schools  are  suffer- 
ing just  as  much  in  the  same  way.  The  efficiency 
of  our  entire  school  system  is  gravely  imperiled. 

The  causes  of  retardation  are  closely  allied  with 
those  of  elimination.     By  law,  children  are  gener- 

1  Rev.  P.  J.  McCormick,  Ph.D.,  Retardation  and  Elimina- 
tion of  Pupils  in  our  Schools,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn,, 
VIII,  p.  326;  cf.  also,  L.  P.  Ayres,  Laggards  in  our  Schools. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  85 

ally  obliged  to  begin  school  at  six  to  eight  years  of 
age  and  to  attend  school  until  fourteen  to  sixteen 
years  of  age.  But  parents  who  wash  to  evade  the 
law,  do  not,  as  a  rule,  find  it  difficult  to  do  so. 
The  compulsory  education  laws  differ  considerably 
in  the  various  States,  and  are  enforced  far  less 
strictly  in  some  than  in  others.  In  consequence,  the 
proportion  of  children  of  school  age  who  actually 
attend  school  differs  very  much  throughout  the 
country,  ranging  from  54.6  per  cent  in  Louisiana 
to  92.9  per  cent  in  Vermont  and  Massachusetts.1 

A  superintendent  of  Catholic  schools  who  has 
devoted  special  attention  to  the  subject,  enumer- 
ates the  following  five  causes  of  retardation: 

1.  Late  entrance. 

2.  Irregular  attendance.  Less  than  three-fourths  of  the 
children  in  the  schools  attend  school  as  much  as  three- 
fourths  of  the  year. 

3.  Physical  defects. 

4.  Deficient  school  administration.  Under  this  heading 
are  placed  overcrowding  of  courses  and  classes,  loss  of  time, 
lack  of  discipline,  faulty  methods,  inefficient  teaching, 
and  an  irrational  system  of  promotion. 

5.  A  lack  of  understanding  of  the  problem  of  retardation. 

As  remedies,  he  suggests  that  every  possible  effort 
should  be  made  to  get  the  children  to  school  at  an 

1  Compulsory  School  Attendance,  Bull.  No.  2,  U.  S.  Bur, 
of  Ed.,  1914,  p.  25. 


86  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

earlier  age,  especially  by  the  establishment  of 
kindergartens;  that  regular  attendance  should  be 
insisted  on  more  vigorously;  that  courses  should  be 
revised  so  as  to  enable  the  average  child  to  complete 
the  grades;  and  that  provision  should  be  made  for 
better  school  administration,  in  the  large  sense  in 
which  the  term  is  used  above.1  To  these  reme- 
dies, another  diocesan  superintendent  would  add 
the  following: 

i.  Special  attention  should  be  given  to  those  who  fall 
behind  their  grade,  in  order  to  discover  the  cause  and  to 
apply  the  best  available  remedy.  While  it  is  impossible 
under  our  present  conditions  to  reach  each  child  individ- 
ually, yet  with  a  little  effort  much  can  be  done  for  those 
exceptional  children  who  are  to  be  found  in  every  grade. 

2.  Intelligent,  systematic  medical  inspection  of  the  school 
will  be  an  important  factor  in  preventing  certain  evils  and 
in  eliminating  others.  It  has  been  demonstrated  time  and 
again  that  the  removal  of  physical  defects  helps  towards 
the  unfolding  and  developing  of  a  child's  intellectual 
powers. 

3.  There  should  be  a  radical  correction  of  the  overcrowd- 
ing evil.  Whatever  excuse  there  may  be  for  our  inability 
to  provide  special  remedies  for  the  backward  children,  in 
nearly  every  case  the  overcrowding  in  our  schools  can  be 
corrected  if  there  be  a  sincere  desire  to  do  so.  Not  unfre- 
quently  non-essentials  about  a  parish  establishment  are 
carefully  looked  after,  while  those  things  that  concern  the 

1  Rev.  A.  V.  Garthoeffner,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn., 
VIII,  p.  336  seq. 


TEACHING  THE  CHILDREN  87 

health  of  both  teachers  and  pupils  are  made  to  assume  a 
secondary  importance.1 

Measures  thoroughly  corrective  of  these  evils 
will  undoubtedly  be  beset  with  difficulties.  But 
much  improvement  can  easily  be  effected,  pro- 
vided there  be  an  understanding  of  the  conditions, 
and  a  tender  sympathy  for  retarded  or  backward 
children,  who  are  the  most  helpless  and  the  most 
worthy  of  intelligent  consideration.2 

1  Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  Phila.,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rep., 
p.  18. 

2  lb. 


CHAPTER   VI 
HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS 

Catholic  secondary  schools  are  multiplying  very 
rapidly,  over  one  hundred  having  come  into  exist- 
ence during  the  past  three  years.1  These  schools 
are  evidently  being  opened  in  response  to  a  popular 
demand.  The  movement  is  very  significant,  and 
full  of  promise  for  the  further  development  of 
Catholic  education. 

Teachers 

Nearly  all  Catholic  secondary  schools  are 
taught  by  religious.  Brothers  have  charge  of  92 
high  schools,  and  Sisters  teach  in  473  high  schools 
containing  boys.2  Although  the  parish  priest  would, 
as  a  rule,  prefer  to  have  men  rather  than  women 
as  teachers  for  boys  of  high-school  age,  yet  he  may 
find    that    he    cannot  get  Brothers   and   cannot 

1  Cf.  The  Condition  of  Cath.  Secondary  Ed.  in  the  U.  S., 
Aug.  Bull,  of  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  1915,  p.  64.  For  a  statement 
of  the  enrollment  in  Catholic  secondary  schools,  cf.  Chapter 
I,  supra,  p.  2. 

2  Rep.  on  Cath.  Sec.  Ed.,  1915,  p.  64.  High  schools  that 
are  exclusively  for  girls  will  be  discussed  in  the  next  chapter. 

88 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  89 

afford  to  hire  laymen.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  has 
not  a  high  school  of  his  own,  his  boys  will  go  to 
the  public  high  school,  where  most  of  their  teachers 
are  likely  to  be  women.  Hence,  he  is  often  obliged 
to  draw  the  practical  conclusion  that  he  cannot 
do  better  than  to  get  Sisters  to  conduct  the  work 
of  his  high  school.  Moreover,  in  parish  high 
schools  conducted  by  Sisters,  at  least  one  class — 
Christian  doctrine — is  almost  always  taught  by 
one  of  the  clergy,  who  also  looks  after  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  school.  It  is  chiefly  in  regard  to 
discipline  and  character-training  that  objection 
is  raised  against  the  teaching  of  boys  by  women. 
This  objection  is  thus  partly  obviated  in  the  case 
of  these  schools.  While  all  this  is  true,  the  fact 
remains  that  men  teachers  are,  by  common  consent, 
preferable  for  boys  of  high-school  age.  We  would 
have  a  larger  number  of  Brothers'  high  schools 
if  we  had  more  teaching  Brothers.  One  of  the 
greatest  needs  in  Catholic  education  at  the  present 
time  is  an  increase  of  vocations  to  the  teaching 
brotherhoods. 

Relation  to  Catholic  Colleges 

Fully  one-half  of  our  high  schools  have  courses 
in  Latin,  which  is  generally  among  the  entrance 
requirements  of  Catholic  colleges.1     The  standard 

1  Report  on  Cath.  Secondary  Ed.,  191 5,  p.  8. 


90  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

college,  as  defined  by  the  College  Department  of 
the  Catholic  Educational  Association,  must  require 
sixteen  units  of  specified  preparatory  studies  for 
entrance.1  According  to  this  definition,  which  is 
also  accepted  by  non-Catholic  educational  associa- 
tions, most  Catholic  high  schools  that  teach  Latin 
have  a  curriculum  that  is  capable  of  fitting  boys 
and  girls  to  enter  our  standard  colleges.  Many 
others  are  capable  of  preparing  their  pupils  to 
enter  the  Freshman  Year  of  colleges  that  are  less 
strict  in  regard  to  entrance  requirements.  Only 
a  few  high  schools  teach  Greek,  unless  they  are 
directly  connected  with  the  colleges. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  our  high  schools,  how- 
ever, do  not  attempt  to  prepare  pupils  for  college. 
In  many  instances,  this  is  due  to  their  recent  estab- 
lishment, or  to  the  difficulty  of  attaining  the  en- 
trance standards  of  the  colleges.  Such  difficul- 
ties will  probably  be  overcome  in  time.  The 
secondary  school,  it  is  true,  exists  primarily  for 
pupils  who  are  not  going  to  college.  Its  first  duty 
is  to  them.  But  it  will  always  have  a  certain 
number  of  pupils  who  are  ambitious  for  higher 
studies.  Statistics  show  that  about  one  out  of 
every  ten  pupils  in  the  public  high  schools  actually 
goes  to  college.  A  Catholic  secondary  school, 
therefore,  cannot  afford  to  neglect  the  interests 
1  Circular  of  College  Dept.,  Feb.,  1915. 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  91 

of  higher  education,  however  much  it  may  sub- 
ordinate them  to  the  needs  of  the  greater 
number  of  its  pupils,  for  such  neglect  would 
be  abandonment  of  one  of  its  own  fundamental 
utilities. 

Not  only  should  the  Catholic  high  school  care- 
fully provide  for  those  among  its  pupils  who  are 
looking  towards  the  college,  but  it  should  employ 
every  legitimate  influence  to  direct  such  pupils  to 
Catholic  colleges.  Graduates  of  our  high  schools 
will,  doubtless,  continue  to  go  to  non-Catholic 
colleges.  Local  proximity,  if  no  other  cause,  would 
lead  to  this.  But  Catholic  colleges  have  a  right 
to  expect  the  great  majority  of  these  high-school 
graduates.  It  would  be  sad,  indeed,  if  any  of  our 
middle  schools,  which  ought  to  form  the  central 
link  in  the  organization  of  Catholic  education, 
should  come  to  be  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help 
to  the  passage  of  pupils  from  our  parish  schools  to 
our  colleges. 

Probably  one-half  of  the  graduates  of  Catholic 
high  schools  who  enter  college  go  to  non-Catholic 
institutions.  These  institutions  make  no  discrim- 
ination between  Catholic  and  public  high  schools. 
They  are  eager,  as  a  rule,  to  place  Catholic  schools 
on  their  accrediting  lists,  when  the  schools  meet 
their  substantial  requirements,  and  quite  a  number 
of  our  high  schools  are  now  accredited  to  various 


92  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

state  universities.1  It  is  natural  that  high  schools 
should  seek  recognition  from  standard  collegiate 
institutions,  whether  Catholic  or  non-Catholic, 
for  such  recognition  means  much  for  their  own 
standing  as  reputable  secondary  schools.  The 
Catholic  University  has  been  quick  to  recognize 
the  opportunity  that  this  condition  offers,  as  is 
shown  by  its  long  list  of  accredited  Catholic  high 
schools. 

The  determination  of  the  relations  that  are  to 
exist  between  college  and  high  school  depends  more 
upon  the  former  than  upon  the  latter.  There  are 
several  things  that  the  Catholic  college  may  do 
in  order  to  attract  the  graduates  of  Catholic  high 
schools,  and  prevent  their  being  drawn  to  non- 
Catholic  colleges  and  universities.  First  of  all, 
there  is  the  cultivation  of  friendly  relations  with 
the  authorities  of  the  high  school.2  It  is  per- 
sonal influence,  more  than  anything  else,  that 
counts  in  the  selection  of  a  college  by  the  high- 
school  student.  Again,  the  high  school  may  be 
brought  into  close  academic  touch  with  the  col- 
lege, so  that  the  high-school  diploma  would  admit 
its  possessor,  without  examination,  to  the  Fresh- 
man Year  of  the  college,  or  to  one  of  the  upper 
preparatory  years.     Another  bond  of  union  is  the 

1  Reports  on  Cath.  Sec.  Ed.,  191 2  and  191 5. 

2  Cf.  Chapter  IV,  p.  52. 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  93 

competitive  scholarship,  admitting  the  high-school 
graduate  to  free  tuition  or  board,  or  both,  in  the 
college.  A  single  competitive  scholarship  may 
attract  many  pupils  to  the  college  that  offers  it; 
and  a  number  of  such  benefactions,  attached  to 
different  high  schools,  will  be  sure  to  attract 
to  the  college  a  large  proportion  of  their  graduates 
who  go  on  for  higher  education.  Some  of  our  col- 
leges have  already  succeeded  in  establishing  such 
scholarships,  and  many  others  are,  doubtless,  only 
awaiting  opportunities  for  doing  so. 

Relation  to  Parish  Schools 

There  is  a  growing  tendency  to  establish  central 
high  schools,  or  high  schools  connected  with  all 
the  parish  schools  of  a  city  or  city  district.1  The 
number  of  Catholic  central  high  schools  now 
amounts  to  several  dozen.  In  advocating  their 
establishment,  a  diocesan  superintendent  describes 
the  general  situation  very  clearly  as  follows: 

The  difficulty  of  conducting  high  schools  attached  to 
single  parish  schools  can  be  grasped  once  you  note  the  cost 
of  equipment,  the  securing  of  teachers  specially  qualified 
for  the  work,  teachers  who  are  sorely  needed  in  the  lower 
grades,  and  then  see  the  small  number  of  candidates  who 
present  themselves  for  secondary  education,  and  the  still 
smaller  number  who  survive  after  four  years'  work.    The 

1  Cf.  Chapter  IV,  p.  58. 


94  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

thin  remnant  of  the  elect  who  outlast  the  four  strenuous 
years  leads  one  to  ask  whether,  after  all,  the  game  is  worth 
the  candle. 

This  situation  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  our  diocese; 
it  is  widespread.  Nay,  more,  it  has  been  the  chief  cause  of 
concern  among  our  most  able  Catholic  educators.  Those 
who  have  devoted  time  and  thought  to  this  matter  have 
but  one  conclusion,  and  that  is  the  central  high  school. 
It  has  been  tried  and  proved  a  splendid  success.  This 
solution  has  stood  every  test,  answered  every  objection.1 

In  most  cases,  the  Catholic  high  school  is  either 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  a  particular  pastor 
and  draws  its  pupils  from  his  parish  alone,  or  it  is 
independent  of  the  parishes  and  under  the  control 
of  a  religious  community.  It  is  evident  that,  in 
the  first  case,  unless  the  parish  is  a  very  large  one, 
the  high  school  will  be  small  and  weak.  The  coop- 
eration of  a  number  of  parishes  is  generally  neces- 
sary to  ensure  a  fair  high-school  enrollment,  as 
well  as  the  requisite  financial  support.2 

The  independent  high  school  in  charge  of  a 
religious  community  is  not  an  organic  part  of  the 
strictly  diocesan  system.  The  parish  schools 
around  it  have  no  direct  connection  with  it,  and 
their  pupils  do  not  necessarily  look  up  to  it  as  a 
school  to  which  they  are  to  go,  as  a  matter  of 

1  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Dunney,  Ann.  Rep.  of  Schools  of  Albany 
Diocese  for  1914,  p.  28. 

2  Cf.  Chapter  IV,  p.  53- 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  95 

course,  for  the  continuation  of  their  studies.1 
Catholic  high  schools  of  this  type  are  analogous  to 
the  "  academies  "  which  preceded  the  public  high 
schools.  The  genius  of  the  American  public  high 
school  consists  precisely  in  that  which  the  "  acad- 
emies "  lacked — an  organic  connection  with  the 
elementary  school  system,  and  the  opportunity 
and  inducement  thereby  offered  to  every  elemen- 
tary pupil  to  take  up  a  higher  course  of  studies,  as 
the  continuation  and  complement  of  the  studies 
of  the  lower  school.  This  advantage,  which 
accords  so  well  with  the  democratic  spirit  and  in- 
stitutions of  America,  is  largely  lost  when  the  con- 
nection between  the  secondary  school  and  the 
elementary  schools  is  broken.  This  is  not,  of 
course,  intended  as  an  argument  against  the  main- 
tenance of  the  independent  high  schools.  They 
are,  on  the  whole,  among  our  most  valued  and  effi- 
cient educational  institutions,  and  we  cannot  have 
too  many  of  them;,  but  they  can  never  take  the 
place  of  the  central  high  schools.  In  order  to  secure 
the  general  support  of  the  parishes,  a  high  school 
must  not  be  either  under  the  exclusive  control  of 
any  one  of  them,  or  altogether  independent  of 
them.  All  must  have  a  common  interest  in  it, 
and  all  must  contribute  to  its  support  and  success. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  elementary  departments  attached 
to  these  high  schools,  cf.  Chapter  IV,  p.  52. 


96  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

These  conditions  can  be  brought  about  only  through 
the  influence  or  authority  of  the  bishop. 

In  treating  of  the  relationship  that  ought  to 
subsist  between  the  high  schools  and  the  parish 
schools,  one  of  our  foremost  educators  says: 

The  Catholic  high  school  education  of  a  city  or  town  or 
locality  should  be  carried  on  by  the  combined  efforts  of 
all  the  parishes  of  a  city  in  the  organization  of  a  central 
high  school,  or  by  groups  of  parishes  in  the  organization 
of  sectional  high  schools.  This  policy  opposes  directly 
and  emphatically  that  which  makes  an  individual  parish, 
with  no  relation  to  other  parishes,  responsible  for  high- 
school  education.  Many  reasons  might  be  added  to  demon- 
strate the  soundness  and  efficiency  of  the  policy  which  ignores 
parish  limits,  and  coordinates  the  educational  forces  and 
the  financial  resources  of  all  or  many  parishes. 

First,  a  central  school  or  a  sectional  school  makes  for 
economy  in  administration,  in  buildings,  in  equipment. 
Second,  it  conduces  to  greater  efficiency  in  the  teaching 
body,  and,  consequently,  in  the  educational  work  which 
the  school  attempts  to  carry  on.  Third,  it  unconsciously 
counteracts  the  intolerance  and  narrowness  which  appear 
in  the  views  of  those  whose  whole  education  has  been  attained 
in  the  one  restricted  environment.  Fourth,  by  bringing 
into  closer  relations  groups  of  pupils  from  different  par- 
ishes, and  by  exercising,  therefore,  an  educational  influ- 
ence in  the  formation  of  character,  it  aids  in  preparing 
Catholic  boys  and  girls  for  the  more  exacting  trials  which 
are  met  in  the  wider  experiences  of  their  chosen  calling. 
Fifth,  it  affects  radically,  as  experience  has  demonstrated  in 
Philadelphia,   elementary   education,   by   erecting   certain 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  97 

definite  educational  standards  which  the  parish  schools 
endeavor  to  reach.  Sixth,  it  radiates  a  unifying  force  in 
the  development  of  a  solidarity  in  public  opinion  which  is 
lamentably  weak  among  Catholics,  in  all  questions  except 
the  one — religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  parish  high  school  adds  practically 
nothing  to  the  permanent  and  systematic  development  of 
the  general  system  of  Catholic  education.  It  is,  perhaps, 
in  this  respect  that  the  policy  of  solving  the  high-school 
problem  through  the  individual  and  unrelated  efforts  of 
one  parish  shows  its  greatest  weakness.  Usually  a  parish 
high  school  owes  its  existence  to  the  zeal  and  educational 
activity  of  a  particular  pastor.  The  school  may  fulfill  its 
work  as  long  as  the  living  personality  dominates  its  life. 
But  there  is  always  a  reasonable  fear  that  when  the  man 
who  creates  a  parish  high  school  dies  or  changes  his  pas- 
torate, the  high  school  will  languish  and  gradually  disap- 
pear. Thus,  the  energy,  time  and  money  which  were 
expended  in  the  individual  high  school,  instead  of  being 
conserved  and  made  contributory  to  the  progressive  growth 
of  the  school  system,  becomes  a  passing,  transient  force. 
It  is  self-evident  that  real  progress  in  our  school  system  is 
out  of  the  question  if  an  important  part  of  it,  such  as  the 
high-school  department,  endures  and  disappears  as  indi- 
viduals come  and  go.1 

Cost  of  Catholic  High  Schools 

The  question  of  the  cost  of  Catholic  secondary 
schools  is  of  particular  importance,  especially  if 
they  are  to  become    central    or    sectional    high 

1  Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  in  Ann.  Rep.  for  Schools  of 
Archd.  of  Phil.,  1916. 


98  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

schools.  It  may  be  observed  that  Catholic  high 
schools  are  usually  needed  only  where  their  sup- 
port would  be  least  felt  as  a  burden.  In  country 
districts  or  towns,  where  the  Catholic  population 
is  scattered  or  small,  Catholic  high  schools  are 
scarcely  possible  at  present.  The  immediate  need 
for  them  is  in  cities  that  contain  a  number  of  par- 
ishes, with  large  and  flourishing  congregations. 
In  such  places,  the  establishment  of  a  central 
high  school  would  entail  much  less  expense  than  is 
commonly  supposed. 

It  costs,  generally  speaking,  only  about  one- 
third  as  much  to  maintain  a  parish  elementary 
school  as  it  does  to  maintain  a  public  elementary 
school,  and  the  same  proportion  holds  good  in  the 
case  of  Catholic  high  schools  and  public  high 
schools.  But  many  of  our  present  high  schools 
cost  much  less  than  this  proportion  would  indicate. 
Where  the  work  is  all  done  in  the  one  parish-school 
building,  there  is  practically  no  extra  expense  for 
building,  heat,  light,  or  janitor  service,  on  account 
of  the  high  school,  and  its  cost  amounts  to  no  more 
than  the  salaries  paid  to  the  teachers.  With  four 
Sisters  as  teachers,  the  total  cost  of  such  a  high 
school  to  the  parish  would  amount  to  about  $1200 
annually.  As  the  salaries  of  Sisters  are  often  less 
than  $300  a  year,  and  as  the  parish  high  school 
often  has  less  than  four  grades,  its  annual  cost  is, 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  99 

in  many  instances,  much  less  than  the  above 
figure.  The  cheapness  of  secondary  education, 
under  such  circumstances,  has  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  large  number  of  high  schools  attached 
to  individual  parish  schools. 

It  is,  however,  with  the  cost  of  central  high 
schools  that  we  are  chiefly  concerned.  In  esti- 
mating the  actual  cost  of  maintaining  a  Catholic 
central  high  school,  we  may  assume  that  such  a 
school,  with  four  regular  grades  and  two  com- 
mercial grades,  will  require  six  or  seven  teachers. 
If  the  teachers  are  Brothers,  their  salaries,  at  $400 
each,  will  amount  to  $2800  annually.  To  tins 
must  ordinarily  be  added,  for  all  other  expenses, 
about  35  per  cent  of  the  salary-total,  or  the  sum  of 
$980.  The  estimated  total  expense  of  a  central 
high  school  would  thus  be  $3780  annually.  With 
thirty  pupils  to  each  teacher,  the  per  capita  annual 
expense  would  be  $18.  Were  the  teachers  Sisters, 
with  salaries  of  $300  each,  the  total  cost  would  be 
reduced  to  less  than  $3000  annually,  and  the  per 
capita  expense  to  about  $14. 

An  annual  expense  of  from  $3000  to  $4000  for  a 
Catholic  high  school  is  more  than  any  single  parish 
is  able  to  bear.  But  where  a  number  of  parishes 
would  unite  in  support  of  such  a  school,  the  expense 
devolving  upon  each  would  be  comparatively 
slight,  amounting  to  only  a  few  hundred  dollars  a 


100  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

year.1  It  is  desirable  that  the  central  high  school 
should  be  a  free  school,  supported  by  parish  con- 
tributions rather  than  individual  tuition-fees.  As 
to  the  apportionment  of  the  charges  for  its  support 
among  the  parishes,  there  are  obvious  objections 
against  assessing  all  the  parishes  equally.  The 
assessment  upon  each  parish  might,  however,  be 
based  on  the  number  of  pupils  that  attend  the  high 
school  from  it,  or,  better  still,  on  the  parish  school 
enrollment.  This  latter  plan  would  stimulate  inter- 
est in  the  high  school  among  the  several  parishes, 
and  induce  each  to  send  as  many  pupils  to  it  as 
possible,  since  the  cost  to  the  parish  would  be  the 
same.  On  the  other  hand,  to  base  the  assess- 
ment on  the  high  school  enrollment  from  each  parish, 
would  expose  certain  parishes  to  the  temptation 
of  being  satisfied  with  a  small  representation  at  the 
high  school,  to  keep  down  expenses.  Still,  it  is 
not  to  be  expected  that  such  problems  will  be 
solved  everywhere  in  exactly  the  same  way.  Local 
conditions  may  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  A 
plan  that  works  successfully  in  one  place,  might 
not  work  so  well  in  another.  The  all-important 
thing  is,  that  the  high  schools  should,  so  far  as 
possible,  conform  to  the  general  type  which  experi- 
ence has  shown  to  be  the  best.     The  ideal  condi- 

1  Cf.  description  of  Cath.  Central  High  School  at  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich.,  in  Cath.  Ed.  Rev.,  I,  p.  391. 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  101 

tion,  under  existing  circumstances,  is  represented 
by  the  central  high  school,  established  by  the 
parishes,  and  supported  by  them  according  to  some 
equitable  and  permanent  plan. 

Proper  Work  of  the  Catholic  High  School 

Catholic  high  schools  do  not,  as  a  rule,  attempt 
to  give  manual  training.  It  is  given  in  a  few 
of  the  larger  high  schools,  and  there  are  special 
manual  training  schools,  like  those  of  the  Chris- 
tian Brothers  and  the  Xaverian  Brothers.  The 
more  of  such  schools  and  departments  we  can  have, 
under  like  conditions,  the  better.  But,  in  the  case 
of  the  ordinary  Catholic  high  school,  a  manual 
training  department  is  a  practical  impossibility. 
Its  cost  would  forbid  it,  and,  besides,  it  is  entirely 
unnecessary.  Neither  is  it  necessary  that  the 
Catholic  high  school  should  include  in  its  curricu- 
lum a  number  of  other  subjects  that  are  now  taught 
in  public  high  schools.  Studies  like  psychology, 
and  advanced  courses  in  mathematics,  history, 
English,  and  the  sciences,  belong  to  the  college. 
There  is  no  room  for  them  in  the  high  school, 
unless  room  is  made  at  the  expense  of  the  essential 
subjects,  which  fully  suffice  of  themselves  to  occupy 
the  four  years.  The  overburdening  of  the  curricu- 
lum in  this  way,  with  the  resulting  superficial 
teaching  of  the   essential  subjects  has  seriously 


102  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

interfered  with  the  efficiency  of  the  public  high 
schools,  and  is  frustrating,  to  some  extent,  their 
very  purpose. 

Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett,  President  of  the  Car- 
negie Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teach- 
ing, in  one  of  his  annual  reports  deals  at  con- 
siderable length  with  the  work  of  the  American 
public  high  school.1  His  discussion  of  the  relations 
of  colleges  and  secondary  schools  has  been  charac- 
terized by  the  Educational  Review  as  "  the  most 
comprehensive  and  sanest  statement  of  the  causes 
that  have  contributed  to  bring  about  the  present 
unsatisfactory  conditions  that  largely  prevail."2 
In  our  haste  to  enrich  the  curriculum  of  the  sec- 
ondary school,  Dr.  Pritchett  says, 

We  have,  to  some  extent,  lost  our  ideal  of  what  education 
means.  To  learn  a  little  about  many  subjects,  to  dip  super- 
ficially into  the  study  of  English  and  Latin  and  chemistry 
and  psychology  and  home  economics,  and  a  dozen  other 
things,  is  not  education.  Only  that  human  being  has 
gained  the  fundamentals  of  an  education  who  has  acquired 
soundly  a  few  elementary  branches  of  human  knowledge 
and  who,  in  acquiring  these,  has  so  disciplined  his  mind 
that  it  is  an  efficient  instrument  ready  to  be  turned  to  what- 
soever task  is  set  before  it.  The  high-school  student  is 
led  to  believe  that  education  is  attained  by  learning  a  little 

1  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Teaching. 

2  Vol.  XLI,  p.  422. 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  103 

of  each  of  many  things;  he  gains,  therefore,  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  many  subjects  and  learns  none  with  thorough- 
ness. He  lacks  the  hard  fiber  of  intellectual  discipline. 
Such  a  youth  has  not  been  educated.  That  only  is  educa- 
tion which  sets  a  boy  on  the  way  to  use  his  own  mind  for 
his  pleasure  and  his  profit;  which  enables  him  to  attack  a 
problem,  whether  it  be  in  school  or  in  business,  and  to 
think  out  the  right  answer.  Education,  rightly  under- 
stood, is  a  power-producing  process;  and  the  serious  indict- 
ment against  the  secondary-school  system  to-day  is  that 
its  graduates  do  not  acquire  either  discipline  or  power. 
The  real  struggle  in  the  American  high  school  is  between 
that  influence  which  makes  toward  thoroughness  and  that 
which  makes  toward  superficiality;  and  if  the  high  school 
is  to  become  the  true  training-place  of  the  people,  the  ideal 
of  thoroughness  must  supplant  the  ideal  of  superficiality. 

The  boy  who  desires  to  enter  college  and  the  boy  who 
desires  to  enter  business  alike  need  to  be  well  grounded  in 
fundamental  studies  and  to  gain  a  real  mastery  of  a  few 
things.  It  appears  equally  clear  that  the  educational  ideal 
which  makes  for  a  simple  and  thorough  curriculum  for  the 
individual,  serves  equally  well  the  boy  who  looks  toward 
college  and  the  boy  who  goes  directly  from  the  high  school 
into  a  vocation. 

Here,  then,  is  our  opportunity.  So  far  from 
regretting  our  inability  to  rival  in  all  respects  the 
large  public  high  schools,  with  their  extensive 
equipment  and  numerous  teaching  staff,  we  may 
not  unreasonably  feel  that  our  poverty  is,  in  this 
matter,  a  safeguard.  The  Catholic  high  school 
does  not  need  much  material  equipment,  nor  a 


104  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

large  teaching  staff.  It  requires,  above  all  else, 
competent,  earnest  and  devoted  teachers.  A 
staff  of  from  four  to  seven  such  teachers  is  amply 
sufficient  for  the  ordinary  central  high  school.  It 
ought  to  have  a  business  or  commercial  course,  as 
well  as  the  academic  course.  It  should  aim,  as 
Dr.  Pritchett  says,  at  teaching  only  a  few  subjects, 
and  at  teaching  these  well.  There  can  be  little  if 
any  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  these  subjects 
ought  to  be,  once  it  is  agreed  that  they  are  to  be 
few  and  that  they  are  to  be  fundamental.  Latin, 
English,  history,  mathematics,  modern  languages, 
and  elementary  science  will  form  a  simple  but 
substantial  curriculum.  The  Catholic  high  school 
should  also,  wherever  possible,  include  in  its  cur- 
riculum the  study  of  Greek;  and  this  can  easily  be 
d"bne,  in  many  places,  through  the  cooperation  of 
the  parish  clergy.  It  will  often,  in  fact,  be  much 
easier  to  provide  courses  in  Greek  than  courses  in 
the  modern  languages  or  science;  and,  for  the  boy 
who  is  looking  forward  to  a  college  or  seminary 
career,  Greek  will  be  far  more  profitable  than  either 
the  modern  languages  or  science. 

Reorganization  of  the  High  School 

There  is  quite  a  general  agreement  among 
American  educators  that  a  reconstruction  of  the 
curriculum  of  the  high  school  is  needed.    This 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  105 

conviction  has  been  arrived  at  after  many  years  of 
study  and  discussion  of  the  matter.  It  is  main- 
tained that  the  age  of  twelve  would  be  preferable 
to  the  age  of  fourteen  for  the  transfer  of  the  pupil 
from  the  elementary  school  to  the  high  school, 
because  the  age  of  twelve  corresponds  more  closely 
to  the  great  change  from  childhood  to  youth  which 
takes  place  during  this  period  of  his  life.  More- 
over, much  time  is  lost  in  the  elementary  grades; 
with  better  teaching  and  organization,  the  work 
that  really  belongs  to  the  lower  school  could  be  com- 
pleted by  the  age  of  twelve.  Furthermore,  the 
social  and  economic  conditions  which  the  Amer- 
ican high  school  system  was  designed  to  fit  into, 
have  changed  very  greatly.  The  fundamental 
idea  of  the  high  school  was,  equal  opportunity  for 
all — knowledge  being  regarded  as  the  equivalent 
of  opportunity.  This  was  well  enough,  as  long  as 
our  great  undeveloped  natural  resources,  together 
with  the  comparative  smallness  of  the  population, 
made  knowledge  of  even  a  general  kind  an  easy 
pathway  to  success  in  life.  To-day,  however,  this 
is  no  longer  the  case.  Graduates  of  the  high 
schools,  in  ever-increasing  proportion,  find  them- 
selves in  a  world  where  the  vague  and  superficial 
knowledge  they  have  acquired  is  rather  a  hindrance 
than  a  help.  Parents  who  have  the  ambition  to 
give  their  children  a  high-school  education  are 


106  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

endeavoring,  in  their  own  way,  to  adjust  this 
education  to  the  changed  outer  conditions;  and 
the  greater  number  of  pupils  quit  the  high  school 
after  a  year  or  two.  Those  who  stay  till  gradua- 
tion are  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  vast  number 
who  enter.  Plainly,  the  high  school  of  to-day 
does  not  meet  well  the  needs  either  of  its  pupils 
or  of  the  times. 

Some  reconstruction  or  readjustment  of  the 
curriculum  appears,  therefore,  to  be  necessary, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  recognized  that  the 
general  character  of  the  high  school  and  its 
important  social  function  as  a  democratizing 
agency  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  preserved. 
But  what  form  shall  this  reconstruction  or  read- 
justment take?  How  far  shall  it  go?  and  how  may 
it  best  be  brought  about?  These  are  questions 
that  are  still  to  be  decided.  Several  practical 
plans  that  involve  a  solution  of  them  are  being 
tried.  The  one  that  is  most  in  favor  just  now  is 
that  of  Junior  and  Senior  High  Schools,  or,  as  it  is 
sometimes  called,  the  "  Six  and  Six  High  School 
Plan."  Its  essential  provisions  may  be  shown  by 
quoting  the  following  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
in  June,  1914: 

That  school  authorities  be  encouraged  to  incorporate  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades  of   the   elementary  school  as 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  107 

an  integral  part  of  the  high  school,  forming  a  six-year 
system. 

That  high  school  authorities  be  recommended  to  organize 
the  six-year  high-school  system  into  a  Junior  High  School  of 
three  years  and  a  Senior  High  School  of  three  years,  as  soon 
as  local  conditions  will  admit.1 

The  superintendent  of  schools  of  the  State  of 
Michigan  has  outlined  courses  of  study  to  accord 
with  these  resolutions.  Three  years  ago,  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Education  reported  that  thirty- 
one  city  superintendents  of  schools  throughout 
the  country  had  already  adopted  the  plan  or  some 
modification  of  it.  Objections  to  it  have,  of 
course,  been  made,  chiefly  on  practical  and  economic 
grounds;  but  these  objections  do  not  appear,  so 
far,  to  raise  any  very  serious  difficulties.  An 
obvious  advantage  of  the  plan  is  the  opportunity 
it  would  afford  pupils  to  choose  a  definite  line  of 
work,  suitable  to  their  capacities  and  environ- 
ment, in  the  seventh  rather  than  in  the  ninth 
grade,  with  the  prospect  of  their  being  thus  induced 
to  remain  at  school  longer.  The  existing  school 
laws  would  make  it  necessary  for  most  of  the  pupils 
of  the  elementary  schools  to  enter  the  Junior  High 
Schools. 

Some  years  ago  a  plan  for  the  solution  of  this 
problem  in  our  own  schools  was  formulated  by  the 
Advisory  Board  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Asso- 
1  School  Review,  Sept.,  1914. 


108  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

ciation,  and  was  formally  adopted  by  the  Execu- 
tive Board  in  November,  19 14,  in  the  sense  that 
it  was  recommended  to  Catholic  educators  as  an 
embodiment  of  guiding  principles.  It  has  not 
thus  far,  however,  been  adopted  by  the  general 
Association.  The  plan  has  reference  only  to  boys, 
and  is  substantially  as  follows: 

About  the  age  of  twelve,  the  parents,  the  teachers,  and 
the  children  themselves  should  begin  to  look  forward  to  the 
future,  and  select  a  kind  of  education  in  conformity  with  the 
purpose  they  have  in  view.  We  may  divide  our  boys  at 
this  period  into  five  classes. 

Class  I.  Those  who  are  called  to  the  priesthood;  those 
who  intend  to  enter  the  liberal  professions,  law,  medicine, 
education,  journalism;  those  who  wish  a  full  liberal  educa- 
tion. We  should  aim  to  give  these  boys  the  classical 
training,  extending  over  a  period  of  eight  years,  and  includ- 
ing a  course  of  two  years  in  philosophy. 

Class  II.  Those  who  expect  to  take  up  the  technical 
professions — mechanical,  civil,  electrical,  sanitary,  or  ceramic 
engineering,  veterinary  surgery,  agriculture,  etc.  The 
classical  training  will  not  be  so  much  in  demand  for  these 
boys.  The  course  should  extend  four  or  five  years  beyond 
the  elementary  schools,  and  then  the  special  technical 
studies  can  be  taken  up. 

Class  III.  Those  who  expect  to  enter  business  or  com- 
mercial pursuits.  Many  of  these  may  be  induced  to  take 
the  full  course  of  secondary  training.  Our  parish  schools 
or  our  high  schools  can  take  care  of  those  who  wish  a  few 
years  of  training  beyond  the  elementary  period. 

Class  IV.    Those  who  expect  to  enter  the  trades.    We 


HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR  BOYS  109 

should  aim  to  keep  these  boys  in  our  parish  schools  for  two 
years  after  the  completion  of  the  elementary  course. 

Class  V.  Those  who  will  engage  in  manual  labor,  and 
those  who  are  backward  and  deficient  in  studies.  These 
boys  should  be  taken  care  of  in  our  parish  schools. 

These  proposals  embody  broad  principles  to  be 
kept  in  view  in  reorganizing  the  curriculum, 
rather  than  a  definite  scheme  of  reorganization; 
and  in  this  lies  their  chief  merit.  The  time  may- 
or may  not  be  ripe  for  the  universal  establishment 
of  Junior  and  Senior  High  Schools;  but  the  time 
has  certainly  arrived  when  pupils  must  have  a 
definite  aim  in  view  sooner,  and  select  work  that 
will  prepare  them  efficiently  for  its  realization. 
There  is  no  Catholic  secondary  school  in  which 
these  recommendations  may  not,  to  some  extent, 
be  converted  into  actual  practice  at  once. 

The  establishment  of  Junior  and  Senior  High 
Schools  would  remedy  certain  of  the  defects  that 
have  been  pointed  out  in  Catholic  secondary  edu- 
cation. It  would,  for  instance,  promote  the 
founding  of  strong  central  high  schools,  and  keep 
pupils  longer  at  school.  The  desire  of  the  pastor 
to  keep  pupils  in  his  own  school  as  long  as  possible, 
could  be  carried  out  by  his  having  a  Junior  High 
School.  Every  large  parish  might  well  have  such 
a  high  school  attached  to  the  parish  school;  the 
more  of  them  established,  the  better.    After  fin- 


110  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

ishing  the  parish  high-school  course,  pupils  would 
pass  to  the  Senior  High  School,  located  at  some 
central  point,  for  the  higher  course  of  three  years. 
Although  most  of  them  would  doubtless  be  content 
with  the  three  years'  course  in  the  Junior  High 
School,  it  is  certain  that  a  much  larger  number 
than  at  present  would  remain  at  school  till  the  end 
of  the  ninth  grade;  and — more  important  still — 
the  work  of  the  seventh,  eighth  and  ninth  grades, 
as  well  as  of  the  higher  grades,  could  not  fail  to 
have  a  more  definite  and  purposeful  character  for 
the  greater  number  of  pupils  than  it  has  to-day. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  SECONDARY  EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS 

Schools  and  Pupils 

A  study  of  Catholic  secondary  education  that 
was  made  in  the  year  19 15  showed  that  we  had 
then,  all  told,  577  girls'  schools  of  secondary  grade, 
with  an  enrollment  of  27,858  pupils  who  had  com- 
pleted the  eighth  grade.  Besides  these  schools, 
which  are  exclusively  for  girls,  there  are  many 
Catholic  high  schools  that  contain  both  boys  and 
girls,  and  it  was  found  that  11,882  girls  were  en- 
rolled in  such  institutions.  The  combined  figures 
for  the  two  classes  of  schools  gave  an  enrollment  of 
39,740  girls  in  the  1276  Catholic  secondary  schools 
in  the  United  States.1  These  numbers  are  im- 
pressive. A  closer  study  of  them,  however,  will 
show  that,  relatively  speaking,  the  educational 
provision  which  they  represent  is  not  nearly  so 
large  or  sufficient  as  it  might  at  first  appear. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  above  figures  indicate 
an  average  enrollment  of  less  than  fifty  pupils 

1  Cf.  Cath.  Secondary  Ed.  in  the  U.  S.,  by  the  author,  in 
Aug.  Bull,  of  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  1915. 

Ill 


112  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

above  the  eighth  grade  for  each  school.  There  is 
usually  a  large  attendance  of  elementary  pupils 
in  these  schools,  and  frequently  the  pupils  who  are 
below  the  eighth  grade  are  more  numerous  than 
those  who  are  above  it.  With  very  few  excep- 
tions, Catholic  girls'  schools  consist  of  both  an  ele- 
mentary school  and  a  high  school. 

The  number  of  girls  in  our  secondary  schools  is 
somewhat  in  excess  of  the  number  of  boys;  but, 
in  both  cases,  the  enrollment  is  far  less  than  it 
ought  normally  to  be.  Catholic  secondary  schools, 
taken  in  the  aggregate,  have  only  about  one-third 
of  their  due  proportion  of  girls.1  This  means 
that  about  two-thirds  of  the  Catholic  girls  who  seek 
a  secondary  education  go  to  public  high  schools 
and  private  non-Catholic  academies.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  the  existing  facilities  for  the  second- 
ary education  of  Catholic  girls  will  have  to  be 
greatly  enlarged,  if  we  would  have  them  all  edu- 
cated under  our  own  auspices. 

Free  High  Schools  for  Girls 

One  of  the  principal  reasons,  apparently,  why 
so  many  Catholic  girls  attend  the  public  high 
school,  rather  than  the  excellent  schools  of  second- 
ary grade  conducted  by  the  Sisters,  is,  that  the 

1  Cf.  op.  cit.;  also  pp.  3,  5  supra. 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         113 

public  high  schools  are  free.  A  tuition  charge  of 
two  to  five  dollars  a  month  does  not,  at  first  sight, 
appear  to  involve  much  of  a  burden  for  parents,  and 
such  a  charge  is  certainly  not  excessive,  if  one  takes 
into  account  the  high  quality  of  the  education  that 
is  given  in  the  Sisters'  schools.  But,  in  most 
cases,  the  tuition  charge  is  only  one  of  several  items 
of  expense  that  the  Catholic  parent  is  called  upon 
to  meet,  if  he  decides  to  send  his  daughter  to  a 
Catholic  secondary  school;  and  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  the  parent  may  be  paying  for  other 
children  at  the  elementary  school.  If  his  daughter 
goes  to  the  academy,  she  may  want  to  take  music, 
and  perhaps  other  "  extras,"  and  the  charge  for 
such  courses  is  comparatively  high;  in  the  public 
school,  these  extra  courses  are  not  generally  to  be 
had.  Then  too,  text-books  are  often  free  in  the 
public  school,  while  they  have  to  be  paid  for  in  the 
academy.  Adding  together  the  cost  of  tuition, 
"  extras,"  and  text-books,  many  a  parent  who 
has  a  desire  to  send  his  daughter  to  a  Catholic 
academy  finds  that  the  sum  amounts  to  more 
than  he  is  able  conveniently  to  pay. 

The  extent  to  which  these  motives  have  influence 
with  parents  may  be  inferred  from  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  new  Catholic  Girls'  High  School  in  Phila- 
delphia. Opened  only  a  few  years  ago,  this  insti- 
tution, which  is  a  free  school,  has  now  nearly  a 


114  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION] 

thousand  pupils,  and  the  attendance  is  increasing 
so  fast  that  the  capacity  of  the  school  will  soon  be 
taxed  to  the  full.1  Yet  Philadelphia  contains 
many  excellent  Catholic  academies  that  could 
accommodate  more  pupils  than  they  have.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  a  free  Catholic  high  school 
for  girls,  in  any  large  town  or  city,  if  organized 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Girls'  High  School  in  Phil- 
adelphia, would  be  equally  successful.  The  result 
of  the  general  establishment  of  such  schools 
would  be  to  attract  to  our  own  educational  insti- 
tutions a  large  proportion  of  the  Catholic  girls 
who  are  now  taking  their  secondary  education  in 
the  public  schools. 

But  there  are  other  motives  than  that  of  ex- 
pense which  lead  Catholic  girls  to  go  to  the  public 
high  schools.  Girls  who  are  looking  forward  to  a 
career  as  teachers  in  the  public  schools  find  it 
advantageous  to  make  their  secondary  studies  in 
the  public  schools.  In  some  places  it  is  prac- 
tically necessary  for  them  to  do  this,  to  prevent 
unfair  discrimination  when  admission  is  sought  to 
the  normal  school.  Recently,  the  circuit  court  in 
the  City  of  St.  Louis  ruled  against  the  constitu- 
tionality of  such  discrimination,  in  the  case  of  a 
girl  who  applied  for  admission  to  the  normal  school 
without  having  previously  attended  the  public 
1  Rt.  Rev.  P.  R.  McDevitt,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1915. 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         115 

schools.1  It  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  Cath- 
olic education,  as  well  as  a  wholesome  vindication 
of  the  principle  of  civic  equality,  if  the  attitude 
represented  by  this  judicial  decision  were  to  pre- 
vail generally. 

Another  condition  that  must  be  considered,  in 
attempting  to  account  for  the  attendance  of  Cath- 
olic girls  at  the  public  high  schools,  is  the 

Quality  of  the  Instruction 

in  girls'  schools  conducted  by  the  religious  sister- 
hoods. Broadly  speaking,  we  may  say  that  such 
schools  are  divided  into  two  classes — those  that 
aim  at  culture  only  or  chiefly,  and  those  that  aim 
at  both  culture  and  utilitarian  knowledge  and 
acquirements.  Schools  of  the  former  class  offer, 
in  addition  to  the  regular  high-school  studies, 
graded  courses  in  vocal  and  instrumental  music, 
in  drawing  and  painting,  or  other  arts.  They 
offer  no  courses  in  utilitarian  subjects,  or,  if  they 
do,  these  occupy  a  very  subordinate  position  in  the 
general  curriculum.  Schools  of  the  latter  class 
have,  besides  the  regular  high-school  studies,  a 
commercial  course  of  two  or  three  years,  in  which 
bookkeeping,  shorthand  and  typewriting,  or  other 
practical  subjects  are  taught,  with  the  view  of 
fitting  girls  for  positions  in  active   life.     About 

]  Cath.  Ed.  Rev.,  Nov.,  1916,  p.  357. 


116  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

one-half  of  all  our  academies  appear  to  aim 
chiefly  at  cultural  education. 

There  can  be  no  question  about  the  high  stand- 
ing of  these  cultural  schools,  or  of  their  great  value 
to  society.  No  finer  tribute  could  be  paid  to  their 
work,  and  no  clearer  evidence  afforded  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  it  is  held  by  the  public,  than  the 
fact  that  so  many  non-Catholic  parents  send  their 
daughters  to  them  to  be  educated.  Almost  every 
academy  of  this  class  counts  a  considerable  enroll- 
ment of  non-Catholic  pupils,  drawn  from  families 
of  the  most  respectable  stations  in  life.  The  pop- 
ularity of  these  institutions  is  due  precisely  to  the 
kind  of  education  they  give.  This  education  aims, 
above  all,  at  developing  the  spiritual  elements  in 
womanly  nature,  and  includes  not  only  the  ordinary 
school  knowledge  but  also  those  finer  ornamental 
accomplishments  which  contribute  so  much  to 
make  woman  supreme  in  the  home  and  in  society. 
In  a  materialistic  age  such  as  ours,  it  is  more  than 
ever  necessary  to  have  schools  that  will  stand 
primarily  for  this  kind  of  education. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
many  Catholic  parents — and  their  number  is 
rapidly  augmenting — want  their  daughters  to  be 
trained  along  other  lines,  not  so  much  from  lack  of 
appreciation  of  cultural  education,  as  from  force  of 
circumstances.    The  classical  colleges,  some  dec- 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         117 

ades  ago,  were  confronted  by  much  the  same  con- 
ditions. It  was  conceded  by  many  of  the  highest 
educational  authorities  that  the  training  afforded 
by  Latin  and  Greek  was  in  itself  superior  to  that 
afforded  by  the  modern  languages.  Nevertheless, 
the  modern  languages  have,  to  a  great  extent, 
replaced  the  classics  in  American  colleges.  The 
reason  for  the  change  was,  that  a  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  body  of  students  could  not  be 
induced  to  take  the  old  classical  course,  and  would 
not  go  to  colleges  that  offered  nothing  else.  Back 
of  this  practical  exigency  lay  the  more  fundamental 
fact  that  the  educational  needs  of  society  could 
no  longer  be  satisfied  by  a  single  group  of  studies, 
however  excellent. 

For  the  same  fundamental  reason,  the  instruc- 
tion that  is  given  in  academies  that  make  culture 
their  principal  aim  is  no  longer  able  to  satisfy  the 
needs  of  all  Catholic  girls.  Besides  these  cultural 
schools,  with  their  time-honored  curriculum,  other 
schools  and  curricula  are  imperatively  needed. 

Woman's  Changed  Position 

This  need  is  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the 
changed  position  of  woman  in  the  world  to-day. 
The  traditional  education  for  girls  was  based  upon 
the  view  that  woman's  active  interests  were  all  to 
be  centered  in  the  home.     Under  present  condi- 


118  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

tions,  however,  very  many  women  are  compelled 
to  seek  employment  outside  of  the  home.  Labor- 
saving  machinery  has  swept  industry  from  the 
home,  and  the  woman  who  has  to  earn  her  own 
bread  must  go  out  and  do  so  in  competition  with 
other  women  or  with  men.1  Woman  has  become 
a  new  factor  in  the  economic  world,  and  the  present 
prospect  is  that  there  are  comparatively  few  occu- 
pations from  which  she  is  likely  to  be  altogether 
excluded.  In  some  departments  of  active  life,  it 
appears  that  men  and  women  are  destined  to  work 
side  by  side,  on  a  footing  of  economic  equality. 
In  others,  we  see  women  gradually  appropriating 
to  themselves  certain  kinds  of  employment  for 
which  they  are  specially  adapted  by  nature,  and 
in  which  men  either  cannot  or  will  not  enter  into 
competition  with  them. 

In  the  public  school  system,  women  do  all  the 
teaching  in  the  kindergarten,  and  almost  all  the 
teaching  in  the  elementary  schools.  The  same 
condition  now  obtains  in  the  parish-school  system. 
It  is  extremely  probable  that  the  few  remaining 
men  teachers  in  both  public  and  parish  schools 
will  be  replaced  in  time  by  teachers  of  the  other 
sex.  And  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  in  neither  case 
was  this  movement  foreseen  or  desired;  it  came 
about  naturally,  under  the  irresistible  pressure  of 
1  Shields,  The  Education  of  our  Girls,  p.  196  seq. 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         119 

economic  influences  arising  from  changed  general 
conditions. 

In  the  realm  of  commerce  and  industry — I  do 
not  speak  of  occupations  involving  manual  labor — 
the  opportunities  for  women  are  constantly  being 
widened.  Women  with  a  fair  education  are  in 
demand  to-day  as  secretaries,  typewriters,  book- 
keepers, clerks,  commercial  travelers,  and  the  like. 
Positions  of  the  kind  command  a  salary  that  affords 
a  comfortable,  independent  living.  It  is  inevit- 
able that  Catholic  young  women  should  seek  to 
take  advantage  of  such  opportunities,  and  their 
faith  and  education  must  be  relied  on  to  safe- 
guard them  from  the  dangers  and  temptations 
they  may  have  to  encounter. 

The  professions  of  law  and  medicine  are  likewise 
being  opened  to  women,  and  year  by  year  the  list 
of  successful  women  practitioners  in  these  pro- 
fessions is  increasing.  So,  too,  in  newspaper  work, 
literature,  the  fine  arts,  and  other  professional 
occupations,  women  are  daily  demonstrating,  in  a 
practical  way,  their  right  to  work  alongside  of  men, 
without  other  limitation  than  that  which  may  be 
placed  by  the  measure  of  their  ability  to  do  work 
equally  as  good  as  that  which  may  be  done  by  men. 
The  development  of  college  and  university  educa- 
tion for  women  has  resulted  in  throwing  open 
to  them,  in  the  higher  walks  of  life,  a  whole  series 


120  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

of  occupations  that  were  formerly  regarded  as 
being  exclusively  within  the  capacity  of  educated 
men.  The  graduate  of  a  woman's  college  has  no 
more  difficulty  in  securing  a  position  suitable  to 
her  attainments  than  the  graduate  of  a  college  for 
men;  indeed,  she  has  usually  less  difficulty.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  while  there  is  a  great  demand 
for  young  women  of  ability  and  thorough  educa- 
tion, the  supply  is  far  from  being  equal  to  the 
demand. 

Future  Progress 

In  view  of  the  changed  position  of  woman  in  the 
world,  and  the  ever-widening  range  of  her  oppor- 
tunities for  employment  in  active  life,  some  im- 
portant questions  arise  for  those  who  are  respon- 
sible for  our  institutions  of  secondary  education  for 
girls.  It  is  plain  that  these  schools  must  meet  the 
needs  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  if  they  are  to  win 
and  hold  the  full  patronage  to  which  they  are  en- 
titled. It  is  not  less  certain  that,  in  order  to  do 
this,  they  must  offer  a  sufficient  variety  of  courses 
of  instruction  to  enable  girls  to  prepare  themselves 
efficiently  for  the  employments  they  will  try  to 
take  up  immediately  upon  their  quitting  school. 
Are  our  secondary  schools  for  girls  meeting  the 
needs  of  the  time  in  a  way  that  is  calculated  to 
satisfy  the  Catholic  public? 

It  may  be  said,  I  think,  that  very  successful 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         121 

efforts  have  been  made  by  many  of  those  who  are 
in  charge  of  our  secondary  schools  for  girls  to 
adapt  these  institutions  to  the  changed  circum- 
stances of  woman's  life  and  work.  These  efforts 
have  been  manifested  in  several  ways.  Many 
of  the  academies  have  established,  side  by  side 
with  the  old  regular  academic  curriculum,  a  com- 
mercial course  of  studies,  or,  at  least,  courses  in 
shorthand,  typewriting  and  bookkeeping,  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  might  be  looking  to  positions 
along  these  lines.  In  some  schools,  excellent 
courses  in  domestic  science  have  also  been  insti- 
tuted. In  many  city  academies,  a  feature  of  the 
regular  work  is  the  preparation  of  pupils  for  posi- 
tions as  teachers  in  public  and  parish  schools. 
More  attention,  too,  is  being  given  to  the  needs  of 
girls  who  are  going  on  for  a  higher  education.  A 
notable  movement  in  this  direction  has  been  inau- 
gurated by  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  who  have 
charge  of  Trinity  College,  all  of  whose  secondary 
schools  now  offer  courses  to  prepare  for  entrance 
to  this  college. 

While  much  has  thus  been  accomplished  towards 
differentiating  the  work  in  the  academies,  it  must 
be  said  that  a  great  deal  remains  still  to  be  done 
before  we  can  rest  satisfied  with  conditions.  More 
Catholic  secondary  schools  for  girls  are  required, 
as  has  been  shown;  at  the  same  time,  the  changes 


122  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

and  developments  that  have  been  going  on  in  exist- 
ing schools  need  to  be  carried  much  further, 
in  accordance  with  definite  and  comprehensive 
plans. 

In  many  places,  Catholic  girls  are  still  left  with- 
out adequate  provision,  in  the  way  of  secondary 
education,  for  their  future  employments.  It  would 
not  be  true  to  say  that  we  have  too  many  cultural 
schools  for  girls,  but  it  is  too  often  true  that  they 
are  not  properly  distributed.  There  is  evidently 
a  serious  defect  in  the  adjustment  of  education 
to  individual  and  social  needs,  where  pupils  who 
will  have  to  go  out  and  seek  employment  as  soon 
as  they  graduate  spend  a  large  part  of  their  time 
in  school  in  the  study  of  music  and  other  artistic 
accomplishments,  to  the  entire  neglect  of  studies 
that  would  be  of  immediate  help  to  them  in  secur- 
ing good  positions.  Many  academies  that  do  not 
at  present  offer  the  commercial  course,  ought  to 
do  so,  as  a  matter  of  service  both  to  their  pupils 
and  to  society.  The  same  suggestion  might  well 
be  made  about  the  teaching  of  domestic  science. 
In  England,  latitude  is  now  given  by  the  Board 
of  Education  for  "  an  approved  course  in  a  com- 
bination of  the  following  subjects:  Needlework, 
cooking,  laundry-work,  housekeeping,  and  house- 
hold hygiene  for  girls  over  fifteen  years  of  age,  to 
be  substituted  partially  or  wholly  for  science  and 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         123 

for  mathematics  other  than  arithmetic."1  This 
provision  in  the  English  educational  system,  for 
the  training  of  girls  in  domestic  science,  might 
very  profitably  be  adopted  by  the  greater  number 
of  our  secondary  schools  for  girls.  A  course  of 
this  kind,  along  with  a  good  commercial  course, 
would  give  our  schools  a  distinct  advantage  in  this 
respect  over  the  public  high  schools,  without 
interfering  in  any  way  with  the  work  of  the  ordi- 
nary curriculum. 

The  interests  of  girls  who  aspire  to  a  collegiate 
education  should  also  be  carefully  looked  after  in 
the  academies.  Such  pupils  usually  follow  the 
regular  academic  curriculum;  but,  in  addition  to 
this,  they  often  have  need  of  special  attention  and 
direction,  or  even  special  classes,  in  order  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  colleges  they  are  to  enter. 
The  number  of  collegiate  students  in  Catholic 
colleges  for  women  is  far  below  what  it  ought  to  be, 
and  bears  no  comparison  with  the  number  in  the 
colleges  for  young  men.  There  is  no  sound  reason 
why  this  disparity  should  continue  to  be  as  great 
as  it  is.  Of  late  years,  happily,  there  has  been 
a  marked  improvement  in  the  attendance  at  the 
colleges  for  women.  With  our  comparatively 
large  number  of  girls'  secondary  schools — more 
numerous  by  far  than  our  boys'  secondary  schools — 
1  Stuart,  The  Education  of  Catholic  Girls,  p.  121. 


124  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

it  ought  to  be  possible  for  these  colleges  to  increase 
their  enrollment  several  times  over  within  the  com- 
ing decade  or  two.  To  the  attainment  of  this 
result,  the  academies  may  contribute  much  by 
encouraging  pupils,  in  the  practical  ways  that  have 
been  suggested,  in  their  aspirations  towards  a 
higher  scholastic  career.  Much  might  be  accom- 
plished in  the  same  direction  by  the  colleges  them- 
selves, if  their  higher  superiors  would  make  each 
of  the  academies  conducted  by  the  community  a 
school  preparatory  to  the  main  collegiate  insti- 
tution. These  academies  would  still  retain  their 
character  as  finishing  schools,  for  the  great  majority 
of  their  pupils.  Catholic  colleges  for  women 
occupy  a  position  of  special  advantage  in  this 
respect,  because  the  religious  communities  that 
conduct  them  are  likewise  in  control  of  secondary 
schools.  This  is  not  the  case,  as  a  rule,  with  the 
teaching  orders  of  men. 

Several  years  ago  it  was  suggested  by  the 
Advisory  Board  of  the  Catholic  Educational 
Association,  that  toward  the  end  of  the  grade 
course  the  aptitude  of  pupils  and  their  probable 
future  purpose  or  work  in  life  should  be  the  object 
of  special  attention  on  the  part  of  those  in  charge 
of  their  education,  so  that  suitable  advice  and 
direction  might  be  given  them  in  selecting  further 
studies.    The  suggestion  is  specially  applicable  to 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION  FOR  GIRLS         125 

girls  during  their  first  year  in  the  high  school.  With 
proper  advice  and  direction,  and  a  proper  variety 
of  courses  of  instruction,  it  will  be  possible,  in  most 
cases,  to  provide  for  the  effective  adjustment  of 
the  work  of  girls  in  the  secondary  school  to  their 
work  and  place  in  after  life. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES 

Increasing  Enrollment 

In  the  year  1916,  a  committee  of  the  Catholic 
Educational  Association,  with  the  author  as 
chairman,  made  an  investigation  of  the  attendance 
at  Catholic  male  colleges  and  universities.  The 
result  showed  that,  in  the  84  institutions  contain- 
ing students  above  the  high  school  grades,  there 
had  been,  in  the  aggregate,  a  very  rapid  increase  in 
the  number  of  collegiate  students  during  the  pre- 
ceding decade.  The  increase  was  more  rapid  than 
that  of  collegiate  students  generally  throughout 
the  country  during  the  same  period. 

The  results  obtained  by  the  committee  will 
be  the  better  understood,  if  they  are  arranged 
alongside  the  returns  for  previous  years.  The 
following  table  shows,  for  various  divisions  of 
students,  the  numerical  progress  made  during  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century.  The  returns  are  respec- 
tively for  the  four  scholastic  years  indicated  in  the 
column  headings.  In  the  last  line  is  given  the 
collegiate  enrollment  of  all  colleges  and  univer- 

126 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES        127 


sities  in  the  United  States,  non-Catholic  as  well  as 
Catholic,  and  for  the  same  divisions  of  students 
as  are  included  in  the  first  line  of  the  table.  The 
figures  for  the  last  line  were  derived  from  the 
Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education. 

Growth  of  Catholic  Colleges  during  Quarter  Century.1 


1889- 
1890. 

1899- 
1900. 

1906- 
1907. 

1915- 
1916. 

Collegiate  enrollment 2 

Undergraduates  and  graduates3 

Professional  students  4 

Engineering  students 

2,972 
2,402 
57o 
17 
4,945 
8,487 

4,220 

3,213 
1,007 

25 
6,476 

",703 

6,689 
4,666 
2,023 

55 
12,462 
21,174 

14,846 
8,667 
6,177 

974 
16,288 
32,256 

Preparatory  students 

Total  college  enrollment 5 

Total  collegiate  enrollment  in 
U.  S.6 

60,259 

101,483 

129,416 

190,278" 

1  Report  on  the  Attendance  at  Catholic  Colleges  and  Universities  in  the  U.S. 
(Bull,  of  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.  for  Aug.,  1916).  Throughout  the  table  duplicates  are 
excluded. 

2  Including  undergraduate,  graduate,  and  professional  students;  excluding 
women  and  summer-school  students. 

3  Excluding  professional  students. 

4  Theology,  law,  medicine,  dentistry,  pharmacy. 

'Including  "  Collegiate  Enrollment"  above,  preparatory,  and  regular  summer- 
school  students. 

8  Non-Catholic  and  Catholic;  including  undergraduate  and  graduate  students, 
professional  students  in  universities  and  colleges,  and  students  in  schools  of 
technology;  exclusive  of  women.  Special  students,  in  music,  art,  etc.,  who  are 
not  enrolled  in  regular  four-year  courses,  are  not  included,  as  it  is  not  known 
how  many  of  them  are  of  collegiate  grade.  They  are  included  in  the  Catholic 
collegiate  enrollment.  Cf.  Rep.  Bur.  Ed.  for  1914,  II,  p.  192;  and  lb.  for  1889- 
90,  II,  p.  1582  seq. 

'For  the  year  1914-15. 

The  investigation  showed  that  nine  of  our  uni- 
versities now  have  over  a  thousand  students,  and 


128  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

that  several  are  well  on  the  way  to  their  second 
thousand.  The  preparatory-school  enrollment,  it 
will  be  noticed,  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  col- 
legiate enrollment,  and  the  preparatory  students 
are  being  gradually  replaced  by  others  of  higher 
grade.  The  collegiate  enrollment,  comprising  un- 
dergraduate, graduate,  professional  and  engineer- 
ing students,  increased  more  than  twofold  during 
the  past  nine  years.  The  most  rapid  growth  has 
been  in  the  department  of  engineering,  in  which 
courses  are  now  offered  by  seventeen  institutions. 
Next  to  the  growth  of  the  engineering  department, 
comes  that  of  the  professional  departments. 
Since  the  year  1890,  the  professional  students  have 
increased  much  more  rapidly  than  the  other  col- 
legiates,  outside  of  engineering,  but  within  the 
past  few  years  this  increase  has  been  especially 
marked.  This  is  due  in  great  measure  to  the  fact 
that,  in  some  instances,  independent  schools  of 
law,  medicine,  etc.,  were  taken  over  by  Catholic 
institutions,  and  became,  at  a  stroke,  fully  organ- 
ized university  departments.  But  even  with  the 
omission  of  professional  students,  it  may  be 
observed  that  the  collegiate  enrollment  was  almost 
doubled  during  the  past  nine  years,  and  that  its 
growth  was  more  rapid  during  this  period  than 
during  the  preceding  seventeen  years. 

An  interesting  feature  of  this  collegiate  devel- 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       129 

opment  has  been  the  establishment  of  summer 
schools  for  the  members  of  the  teaching  sister- 
hoods. Six  of  the  colleges  now  offer  summer 
courses  leading  to  regular  academic  degrees,  while 
in  several  others  the  diocesan  educational  author- 
ities conduct  summer  schools  or  teachers'  insti- 
tutes. It  is  quite  likely  that  other  large  colleges 
that  are  favorably  situated  will  join  in  this  work, 
one  of  the  most  promising  results  of  which  is,  to 
bring  the  colleges  into  closer  touch  with  the  parish 
schools  and  high  schools. 

The  increase  of  collegiate  students  may  be  shown 
in  a  more  striking  way  if  the  totals  for  collegiate 
enrollment  given  above  are  reduced  to  a  percentage 
basis.  The  rate  of  growth  of  Catholic  colleges 
and  universities  may  thus  be  compared  at  a  glance 
with  the  general  rate  of  college  and  university 
growth  throughout  the  United  States.  In  the 
following  table,  for  each  of  the  three  intervals  of 
time  given,  the  percentage  rate  of  growth  is  shown, 
first  for  the  entire  interval,  and  then  for  each  year 
on  the  average,  the  intervals  not  being  of  equal 
length. 

This  comparison  shows  that  the  rate  of  growth 
of  our  collegiate  enrollment,  which  was  much  lower 
than  the  general  rate  for  the  United  States  in  the 
decade  between  1890-1900,  rose  high  above  the 
latter  during  the  seven  years  between  1900-1907 


130 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 


Comparative  Rate  of  Growth  of  Catholic  Colleges  and  Universities — 
■A  Collegiate  Enrollment.1 


1890-1900. 

1900- 

1907. 

1907- 

I9I6. 

■w  to 

a, 

Average 
per 
Annum. 

<u 
U  0 

S  ■— ' 

PL, 

Average 
per 
Annum. 

0 

0  0 
a, 

Average 
per 
Annum. 

Catholic  colleges  and 

universities 

42 

4.2 

S8.S 

8.4 

121. 9 

13-5 

All  colleges  and  uni- 

versities in  U.  S. . 

68.4 

6.8 

27-5 

3-9 

47.  22 

5-92 

1  Including  the  same  as  "  Collegiate  enrollment"  in  preceding  table. 

2  For  the  period  1907-15. 

and  higher  still  during  the  past  nine  years.  A 
very  significant  fact  is,  that  this  rapid  numerical 
increase  commenced  about  the  time  the  Catholic 
College  Conference  was  organized,  and  began  its 
work  of  bringing  representatives  of  the  colleges 
together  annually.  Much  of  the  time  of  the 
meetings  of  the  Conference,  in  its  early  years,  was 
devoted  to  the  discussion  of  ways  and  means  of 
increasing  the  number  of  collegiate  students. 

The  proportion  of  Catholic  young  men  who  go 
to  non-Catholic  colleges  may  also  be  ascertained, 
approximately,  from  the  data  in  the  first  table. 
For  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  compare  the  figures 
given  there  for  collegiate  enrollment  with  the 
respective  population  figures.    This  is  done  in  the 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES      131 


following  table,  which  shows,  first,  the  number  of 
collegiate  students  in  Catholic  colleges  and  univer- 
sities to  every  million  persons  of  the  Catholic 
population;  and  next,  the  number  of  such  students 
in  all  colleges  and  universities  in  the  United  States 
to  every  million  persons  of  its  population.  The 
respective  results  are  given  for  the  same  periods 
as  above. 

Number  of  Collegiate  Students  to  Every  1,000,000  Persons  of  Respec- 
tive Population,  1890-1016. 


1890 

1900 

1907 

1916 

Catholic  collegiate  enrollment  *. . . . 
Total  collegiate  enrollment  in  U.  S.1. 

359 

957 

417 
1,335 

5ii 
i,Si3 

896 
i,8952 

1  Including  the  same  as  "  Collegiate  enrollment "  in  first  table. 

2  For  1915. 

These  figures  show  that,  while  in  the  year  1890 
two-thirds  of  the  young  men  who  were  due  in  our 
colleges  were  either  not  going  to  college  at  all  or 
were  going  to  non-Catholic  institutions,  by  the 
year  19 16  this  adverse  ratio  had  been  reduced  to 
about  one-half.  To  be  more  exact,  the  collegiate 
students  enrolled  in  our  preparatory  seminaries, 
which  are,  in  reality,  junior  colleges,  should  also 
be  counted  in  here.  If  this  is  done,  the  number 
896  in  the  preceding  table  becomes  945. 1  As  there 
is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  Catholics  furnish 
1  Report  on  Attendance  at  Calh.  Colleges  and  Universities,  p.  9. 


132  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

less  than  their  normal  proportion  of  college  stu- 
dents, the  conclusion  would  appear  to  be  justified 
that  about  one-half  of  our  young  men  who  go  to 
college  attend  non-Catholic  institutions.  This 
proportion  is  no  larger  than  might  be  expected, 
in  view  of  the  special  circumstances  that  so  often 
influence  young  men  in  choosing  a  particular 
college.  Proximity  and  expensiveness  are,  neces- 
sarily, determining  factors  in  the  case  of  very 
many.  However,  with  the  continuance  of  the  pro- 
gressive movements  that  are  so  evident  at  present 
in  Catholic  institutions  of  higher  learning,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  a  still  larger  proportion  of  our  youth 
may  be  gradually  drawn  to  them. 

Including  preparatory  seminaries,  the  enroll- 
ment in  Catholic  colleges  and  universities  in  1916 
amounted  to  18,767  students  in  high  school  grades 
and  16,775  students  in  higher  grades — a  total  of 

35,542. 

Colleges  for  Women 

Conspicuous  among  recent  Catholic  educational 
movements  has  been  the  progress  of  higher  edu- 
cation for  women.  Several  Catholic  colleges  for 
women  have  existed  for  a  long  time.  But  the 
opening  of  Trinity  College,  at  Washington,  in  1901, 
with  its  high  standards  for  entrance  and  gradua- 
tion, gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  Catholic  education 
of  women.     Since  then,  several  of  the  larger  acad- 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       133 

emies  have  established  collegiate  departments; 
other  institutions,  which  already  had  such  depart- 
ments, have  strengthened  and  developed  them. 
There  is  an  evident  disposition,  too,  to  make  a 
sharper  distinction  between  the  academy  and  the 
college  for  women,  as  well  as  between  their  respective 
graduates.  It  is  likely  that  the  traditional  term 
"  academy,"  which  was  long  used  indiscriminately 
to  designate  a  Catholic  school  for  women,  whether 
of  secondary  or  collegiate  grade,  will  come  to  be 
applied  only  to  institutions  inferior  to  the  college. 
Efforts  to  unite  Catholic  women's  colleges  in  an 
association,  for  the  furtherance  of  their  common 
interests,  successfully  culminated  in  their  admit- 
tance into  the  Catholic  Educational  Association 
at  the  Baltimore  meeting,  in  191 6,  as  a  special 
section  of  the  College  Department.1 

University  Development 

The  progress  of  American  higher  education  dur- 
ing the  past  half  century  has  been  marked  by 
the  transformation  of  many  of  the  larger  colleges 
into  universities,  the  change  consisting  chiefly  in 
the  establishment  of  professional  and  postgraduate 
departments.  Catholic  colleges  have  had  part 
in  this  movement,  although  only  a  few  of  them  have 

1  In  regard  to  the  number  of  Catholic  colleges  for  women 
and  their  student  enrollment,  cf.  note  on  p.  3. 


134  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

succeeded  thus  far  in  establishing  well  organized 
post-graduate  departments,  or  in  attracting  post- 
graduate students  in  any  considerable  number. 
But  the  aggregate  number  of  candidates  for  the 
higher  academic  degrees  in  non-Catholic  univer- 
sities in  the  United  States  is  likewise  relatively 
small,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  Catholic  univer- 
sities should  find  it  difficult  to  attract  such  stu- 
dents. At  places  like  Harvard,  which  has  a  con- 
siderable body  of  post-graduates,  a  large  number 
of  scholarships  and  fellowships  are  open  to  them. 
Of  the  one  hundred  or  more  post-graduates  at 
the  Catholic  University,  a  large  proportion  hold 
scholarships.  The  Knights  of  Columbus  Endow- 
ment at  this  latter  institution  provides  for  fifty 
scholarships,  to  be  reserved  exclusively  for  those 
doing  post-graduate  academic  work. 

These  circumstances  are  mentioned  merely  to 
exemplify  the  causes  that  have  hitherto  prevented 
some  of  our  universities  from  developing  more 
fully  their  post-graduate  departments.  Many 
post-graduate  students  are  unable  to  pay  their 
own  way,  and  they  can  usually  obtain  scholar- 
ships or  their  equivalent  at  endowed  universities. 
Experience  has  shown  that  the  offering  of  post- 
graduate courses,  with  competent  teachers,  will 
not  of  itself  attract  Students,  and  that  the  further 
development  of  this  feature  of  our  institutions  of 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND   TENDENCIES       135 

higher  education  will  depend  mainly   upon   the 
establishment  of  endowments. 

As  was  noted  above,  the  number  of  professional 
students  in  our  colleges  and  universities  has  been 
increasing  very  rapidly.  Thirty-nine  institutions 
have  at  least  one  professional  department.  In 
many  of  these  the  professional  students  are  con- 
fined to  theology,  and  such  institutions  might, 
perhaps,  best  be  classed  as  colleges  with  an  attached 
theological  seminary.  But  quite  a  number  of  insti- 
tutions have  schools  of  law,  and  several  have  also 
schools  of  medicine.  The  larger  cities  naturally 
afford  the  best  conditions  for  the  successful  devel- 
opment of  these  departments.  A  law  school  may 
be  made  almost  self-supporting,  if  the  attendance 
is  large  and  other  circumstances  are  favorable.  A 
medical  school,  however,  cannot  be  made  self- 
supporting  even  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances, if  it  is  to  be  properly  provided  for  in 
respect  of  teaching  staff,  equipment,  and  general 
appointments.  An  endowment  of  at  least  a  million 
dollars  would  appear  to  be  requisite  for  the  proper 
support  of  a  modern  medical  school,  after  provision 
has  been  made  for  buildings  and  equipment. 
These  conditions  render  the  establishment  of  a 
medical  school  extremely  difficult  if  not  imprac- 
tical at  most  of  our  universities  at  present. 


136  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Preparatory  Departments  and  Junior 
Colleges 

It  has  been  noted  that  the  increase  of  prepara- 
tory students  at  Catholic  colleges  has  not,  in  the 
aggregate,  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  collegiate 
students.  Where  the  university  development  just 
referred  to  has  been  going  on,  the  attendance  of 
preparatory  students  has  relatively  fallen  off. 
Our  universities  have  evidently  come  to  see  that  a 
preparatory  department  is  no  longer  necessary 
for  them,  for  they  are  drawing  students  in  ever 
larger  numbers,  not  only  from  Catholic  high 
schools,  but  also  from  the  public  high  schools. 
Trinity  College  has  never  had  a  preparatory 
department,  and  has  never,  apparently,  felt  the 
need  of  one.  The  same  is  true  of  the  Catholic 
University,  its  undergraduate  department  having 
grown  very  rapidly  by  drawing  students  from  sec- 
ondary schools  and  smaller  colleges.  Several  of 
our  larger  institutions  are  now  removing  their 
preparatory  departments,  and  locating  them  at 
some  distance  from  the  college  proper.  It  is  likely 
that  this  will  be  done,  sooner  or  later,  by  all  uni- 
versities and  large  colleges. 

The  removal  of  the  preparatory  departments, 
while  it  will  accelerate  the  development  of  the 
larger  institutions,  will  increase  very  notably  the 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       1S7 

differences  already  existing  between  them  and  the 
smaller  colleges.  Most  of  the  latter  will  probably 
retain  their  preparatory  departments,  to  offset 
the  drift  of  their  collegiate  students  to  other 
institutions,  especially  after  the  Freshman  or 
Sophomore  Year.  Comparatively  few  preparatory 
students  stay  at  the  same  college  until  they  obtain 
a  college  degree.  Many  of  them  do  not  intend  more 
than  a  high-school  education.  Many,  after  com- 
pleting the  preparatory  courses,  begin  collegiate 
work,  but  only  with  the  view  of  preparing  them- 
selves, by  a  year  or  two  of  this  work,  for  the 
upper  collegiate  years  or  professional  courses  in 
some  university. 

There  are  several  Catholic  colleges  that  do  not 
carry  students  beyond  the  Sophomore  Year. 
Their  curriculum  includes  six  years  of  study — four 
of  secondary  and  two  of  collegiate  grade.  Such  in- 
stitutions are  Junior  Colleges,  in  the  technical  sense 
the  term  has  come  to  bear.  There  are  other  col- 
leges which,  while  offering  a  full  collegiate  curricu- 
lum, have  very  few  students  in  the  Junior  and 
Senior  Years,  being  unable  to  retain  their  students, 
in  competition  with  the  larger  and  stronger  col- 
leges around  them.  Would  it  not  be  better  for 
these  smaller  institutions  to  drop  the  last  two  years 
of  college  work,  and  range  themselves  among  the 
Junior  Colleges?    The  Junior  College  has  a  field 


138  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

of  its  own,  and  within  this  it  need  have  little  fear 
of  competition.  Such  a  change  would  be  of  ad- 
vantage to  the  universities  and  larger  colleges, 
by  increasing  their  enrollment  in  the  upper  col- 
legiate years,  and  it  would  greatly  benefit  the 
smaller  colleges  themselves.  The  energies  which 
they  are  now  devoting  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Junior  and  Senior  Years,  and  which  are  so  largely 
wasted,  could  then  be  turned  to  better  account  in 
strengthening  their  work.  Improvement  of  the 
teaching  and  equipment  could  not  fail  to  bring 
them  an  increase  of  students;  and  a  condition 
of  genuine  prosperity  and  progress  would  thus 
replace  the  struggle  for  existence  that  character- 
izes the  history  of  so  many  of  the  colleges  of 
this  class. 

The  Curriculum — Standardization 

It  has  become  more  and  more  difficult  for  the 
small  and  struggling  college  to  maintain  a  full  col- 
legiate curriculum  up  to  the  standard  that  obtains 
at  reputable  institutions  of  higher  learning.  The 
old  uniform  college  curriculum  is  becoming  a 
thing  of  the  past.  There  are  Catholic  colleges 
which,  almost  from  their  very  beginning,  adopted 
the  principle  of  allowing  the  student  a  certain  choice 
in  the  studies  to  be  pursued.  However  opposed 
to  the  elective  system  some  Catholic  educators 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       139 

may  have  been  in  days  gone  by,  and  however 
firmly  some  of  our  colleges  may  still  stand  for  the 
classical  curriculum,  it  is,  nevertheless,  generally 
conceded  that  some  option  must  be  allowed  the 
student  in  respect  to  courses  and  studies.  Elec- 
tives  necessitate  an  increase  of  classes  and  teachers 
as  well  as  equipment — a  condition  that  severely 
handicaps  the  small  college  in  attempting  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  the  upper  collegiate  years.  It  is 
all-important  for  the  Catholic  college  that  the 
Catholic  public  should  be  convinced  that  its  courses 
and  equipment  are  fully  as  good  and  modern  as 
those  of  non-Catholic  colleges.  Our  stronger  col- 
leges have  taken  the  obvious  steps  to  attain  this 
end,  by  adopting  substantially  the  same  standards 
that  have  come  to  obtain  among  the  larger  and 
better  non-Catholic  colleges  and  the  state  uni- 
versities in  regard  to  entrance  and  graduation 
requirements,  teaching  and  equipment.  Not  only 
has  this  been  done  by  individual  colleges,  but 
efforts  have  been  made  to  have  a  uniform  standard 
adopted  by  the  College  Department  of  the  Cath- 
olic Educational  Association. 

These  efforts  have  been  fairly  successful.     The 

College  Department  has  agreed  that  sixteen  units 

should  be  required  for  entrance  to  college,1  and 

one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  hours  as  a  minimum 

1  Chicago  Meeting,  191 1. 


140  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

for  graduation.1  In  addition,  the  standing  com- 
mittee of  the  Department  has  recommended  the 
adoption  of  the  following  provisions:  That  a 
college  should  have  at  least  seven  departments, 
with  seven  professors  giving  their  entire  time  to 
college  work;  that  the  professors  should  have  a 
college  degree  or  its  equivalent,  and  should  instruct 
in  that  department  for  which  they  have  had  spe- 
cial preparation;  that  the  college  library  should 
contain  at  least  5000  volumes;  that  the  labora- 
tory equipment  should  be  sufficient  to  carry  on 
work  in  physics,  chemistry  and  biology,  and 
should  represent  at  least  $5000;  that  the  student 
should  be  required  to  take  at  least  sixteen,  and 
ordinarily  not  more  than  twenty,  hours  of  class 
work  a  week;  and  that  no  professor  should  be 
required  to  teach  for  more  than  sixteen  hours  a 
week.2 

The  next  step  was  to  secure  the  adoption  by 
the  College  Department  of  some  effective  sanction 
for  the  practical  observance  of  the  above  con- 
ditions by  the  colleges,  or  to  provide  for  the  classi- 
fication of  our  colleges  in  such  a  way  that  those 
that  meet  the  standard  requirements  would  be 
readily  distinguishable  from  those  that  do  not 
meet  them.    At  the  Buffalo  meeting  of  the  Cath- 

1  New  Orleans  Meeting,  1913. 

*  Circular  Letter  of  Pres.  of  College  Dept.,  Feb.  15,  1915. 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       141 

olic  Educational  Association,  in  1917,  a  plan  of 
this  kind  was  agreed  to,  a  committee  being  ap- 
pointed to  carry  out  the  work  of  standardization 
and  classification.1 

Standardization  and  classification  of  the  colleges 
is  imperatively  needed,  in  fairness  to  both  the 
stronger  and  the  weaker  colleges.  Institutions 
that  do  not  at  present  meet  the  moderate  and 
reasonable  requirements  mentioned  above,  should 
either  raise  their  standards  to  conform  to  these 
requirements,  or  assume  the  status  of  Junior 
Colleges.  No  one  who  has  at  heart  the  progress  of 
higher  education,  and  who  is  fully  conversant 
with  educational  conditions  within  our  country — 
not  to  mention  the  demands  made  by  foreign  uni- 
versities— can  fail  to  sympathize  with  this  move- 
ment, the  main  object  of  which  is,  simply,  to  en- 
able one  to  appraise  college  degrees  at  their  true 
value.  It  will  be  far  better  for  Catholic  colleges 
to  be  standardized  and  classified  by  their  own 
representatives,  rather  than  by  those  who  are 
unfamiliar  with  the  Catholic  college,  and  unable 
rightly  to  evaluate  or  appreciate  some  of  its  most 
essential  features. 

1  Cf.  Address  of  Rev.  M.  A.  Schumacher,  C.S.C.,  Pres.  of 
the  College  Dept.,  What  Next?  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed. 
Assn.,  1916,  p.  91. 


142  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Endowment  and  Support 

One  of  the  features  of  the  Catholic  college  that 
outsiders  find  it  difficult  to  understand  is  the  man- 
ner of  its  support.  As  a  rule,  all  successful  non- 
Catholic  colleges  and  universities  are,  to  a  great 
extent,  maintained  by  funds  derived  either  from 
the  state  or  from  individual  benefactors.  It  is 
regarded  as  an  axiom,  outside  the  sphere  of  Cath- 
olic education,  that  a  college  or  university  cannot 
be  self-supporting.  On  the  other  hand,  Cath- 
olic colleges  are  generally  self-supporting;  only  a 
few  are  even  partially  endowed,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Catholic  University. 

To  understand  how  this  can  be,  it  is  necessary 
to  know  that  all  but  eight  of  the  eighty-four  Cath- 
olic colleges  and  universities  for  men  are  con- 
ducted by  religious  orders.  Most  of  the  profes- 
sors in  these  institutions  are  religious,  and  receive 
no  salary,  their  services  being  entirely  gratuitous. 
Now,  professors'  salaries  are,  as  is  well  known, 
the  chief  source  of  expense  in  the  non-Catholic 
college  or  university.  Hence,  the  Catholic  col- 
lege, being  largely  free  from  this  heavy  outlay,  is 
able  to  meet  its  general  expenses  from  the  tuition 
fees  and  other  student  revenue.  Although  the 
college  faculty  usually  includes  some  lay  or  clerical 
salaried  professors,  the  number  of  these,  except 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       143 

at  a  few  institutions,  is  comparatively  small.  At 
the  eight  colleges  conducted  by  the  secular 
clergy — among  these,  the  Catholic  University  is 
an  endowed  institution — all  the  professors  are 
salaried;  but  many  of  them  are  clergymen,  and 
the  salaries  of  clerical  professors  are  generally 
much  less  than  those  that  laymen  of  equal  ability 
would  expect. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  financial 
value  of  the  gratuitously  rendered  services  of  the 
religious  professors  at  any  particular  college.  This 
has,  in  fact,  been  done  in  a  number  of  instances. 
Some  associations  of  colleges  require,  as  a  condi- 
tion for  admission,  that  an  institution  possess 
endowment  funds  to  a  certain  amount.  Catholic 
colleges  have  been  able  to  satisfy  this  requirement 
by  showing  that  they  possess  in  these  gratuitous 
services  the  equivalent  of  a  permanent  endowment, 
its  value  being  shown  by  the  sum  of  the  salaries 
that  the  religious  professors  would,  under  other 
circumstances,  be  apt  to  receive.1  Some  of  the 
States  also  require  that  the  college  shall  possess  a 
certain  minimum  endowment-fund,  as  a  condition 
necessary  to  its  granting  degrees.  Colleges  that 
are  doing  real  college  work  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  such  restrictions,  if  they  are  fairly  applied. 

1  Rev.  H.  S.  Spalding,  S.J.,  Endowment  of  Men  and 
Endowment  of  Money,  in  Ed.  Rev.,  LII,  p.  392. 


144  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

At  any  of  our  larger  colleges,  if  laymen  were  to 
replace  the  religious  teachers  and  officials,  the 
change  would  involve  an  increased  salary  expense 
ranging  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  This  would  represent  a  capital,  or  en- 
dowment fund,  between  one  and  two  million 
dollars.  If  the  same  change  were  made  at  all 
Catholic  colleges,  the  increased  expense  would 
amount  to  at  least  three  million  dollars  annually, 
which  would  represent  endowment  funds  amount- 
ing to  some  sixty  millions. 

The  fact  that  a  Catholic  college  depends  for  its 
support  mainly  upon  student  fees,  does  not  argue 
that  its  economic  foundation  is  unstable  or  inse- 
cure. A  notable  falling  off  in  the  attendance 
would,  it  is  true,  cause  serious  financial  difficulties; 
but  the  same  condition  would  cause  equal  finan- 
cial difficulties  at  any  of  the  large  and  richly  en- 
dowed institutions.  Tuition  fees  make  up  a 
large  part — rarely  less  than  one-half — of  the  rev- 
enues of  endowed  colleges  and  universities;  and  a 
marked  decrease  in  the  amount  of  tuition  fees  at 
such  institutions  would  necessarily  give  rise  to  a 
deficit,  which  could  be  met  only  by  an  immediate 
appeal  to  the  generosity  of  friends  and  bene- 
factors. Instances  of  this  have  been  frequent 
enough  in  the  history  of  American  education. 
Catholic  colleges  are  really  better  able   to   bear 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND  TENDENCIES       145 

such  a  financial  strain  than  are  endowed  institu- 
tions, for  they  are  better  able  to  economize  with- 
out substantial  detriment  to  their  regular  work, 
and  in  case  of  urgent  need  they  can  rely,  to  some 
extent,  upon  the  general  resources  of  their  respec- 
tive religious  orders. 

Still,  although  most  of  our  colleges  have  received 
little  or  no  aid  from  the  outside  thus  far  in  the 
form  of  gifts  or  endowments,  it  need  scarcely  be 
said  that  such  benefactions  are  greatly  to  be 
desired.  The  introduction  of  the  elective  system, 
even  to  a  limited  extent,  has  multiplied  classes  and 
added  to  the  general  expense.  University  devel- 
opment has  increased  the  number  of  lay  pro- 
fessors at  many  institutions,  besides  making  ex- 
pensive demands  in  the  way  of  buildings  and  equip- 
ment. More  lay  professors  will  be  needed  in 
the  future,  and  it  will  also  be  necessary  to  increase 
their  salaries,  which  are  now  far  below  the  salaries 
of  those  occupying  corresponding  positions  in 
endowed  institutions.  The  time  appears  to  have 
arrived  when  gifts  and  endowments  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  our  colleges  and  universities,  if  they 
are  to  continue  along  the  ways  of  progress  upon 
which  they  have  entered. 

Fortunately,  signs  are  not  wanting  that  the 
Catholic  public  is  beginning  to  appreciate  properly 
these   conditions.     The   success   of   the    Catholic 


146  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

University  in  raising  a  large  endowment  fund, 
shows  that  wealthy  Catholics  may  be  counted  on 
to  aid  in  the  upbuilding  of  worthy  institutions  of 
the  higher  learning.  Creighton  University  stands 
as  a  monument  to  a  noble  Catholic  philanthropist. 
In  the  year  1916,  Marquette  University  collected 
half  a  million  dollars  within  a  few  weeks,  largely 
from  the  citizens  of  Milwaukee,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  work  of  its  departments.  These  and 
other  notable  benefactions  that  might  be  men- 
tioned show  that  a  new  period  in  the  development 
of  Catholic  higher  education  has  begun,  a  period 
that  is  to  be  characterized  by  a  more  successful 
appeal  to  the  generosity  of  the  Catholic  public, 
and  especially  of  Catholic  men  of  wealth.  Our 
colleges  will  still  have  to  depend  upon  the  religious 
orders,  and  to  some  extent  upon  those  secular 
clergymen  who,  out  of  love  for  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tian education,  are  content  with  a  salary  that  is 
barely  sufficient  for  their  individual  support. 
But  endowments  will  provide  for  more  lay  pro- 
fessors, and  at  better  salaries  than  the  colleges 
can  now  afford  to  pay  them;  scholarships  and  fel- 
lowships will  afford  more  and  better  opportunities 
for  poor  boys  and  promising  young  teachers  of  lim- 
ited means;  while  the  erection  of  libraries,  labora- 
tories, dormitories  and  other  buildings  by  gen- 
erous-minded   men    and  women   of  wealth  will 


COLLEGE  GROWTH  AND   TENDENCIES      147 

relieve  our  colleges  and  universities  of  one  of 
their  heaviest  financial  burdens,  and  enable  them 
to  devote  their  energies  more  exclusively  to  the 
perfecting  of  their  work  in  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  orders. 

Freedom  of  Teaching 

Of  the  seventy-six  Catholic  colleges  which  are 
conducted  by  the  religious  orders,  twenty-five 
belong  to  the  Jesuits,  fourteen  to  the  Benedictines, 
and  six  to  the  Christian  Brothers.  Professors  who 
are  religious  are  removable  at  the  will  of  their 
superiors,  and  their  teaching  is,  therefore,  com- 
letely  under  the  control  of  the  religious  authori- 
ties. From  this,  however,  it  is  not  to  be  inferred 
that  a  religious  professor  is  not  allowed  a  reasonable 
freedom  in  his  work.  It  is  recognized  that  there 
must  be  a  certain  unity  of  teaching  in  regard  to 
subjects  like  theology  and  philosophy;  as  to  the 
rest,  religious  professors  enjoy  as  much  freedom  as 
do  professors  in  American  colleges  generally.  The 
unity  of  teaching  that  obtains  in  Catholic  colleges 
and  universities  does  not  forbid  research  and 
progress  even  in  theology  and  philosophy;  it  is 
rather  a  guarantee  that  progress,  however  gradual, 
will  be  sure  and  permanent;  and  its  influence  upon 
the  mind  of  the  Catholic  student  must  be  cor- 
respondingly   wholesome.    The    body    of    sound 


148  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

religious,  philosophical  and  moral  principles  he 
holds  forms  a  correlating  center  for  all  his  other 
knowledge;  and  he  is  conscious  that  these  prin- 
ciples are  taught  by  Catholic  professors  every- 
where throughout  the  world  to-day,  as  they  have 
been  through  all  the  past  ages.1 

1  Cf.  Chapter  III,  discussion  of  "  Correlation." 


CHAPTER  IX 
INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS 

Discipline 

It  was  shown  in  the  preceding  Chapter  that 
great  changes  have  taken  place  in  many  Catholic 
colleges.  Along  with  the  changes  referred  to, 
however,  which  relate  chiefly  to  the  outer  form  and 
organization  of  the  college,  other  developments 
have  been  going  on,  involving  problems  more  fun- 
damental in  character,  which  relate  to  the  inner 
life  and  work  of  the  college.  These  problems  may 
conveniently  be  considered  under  the  heads  of 
discipline,  religion,  and  teaching.1 

The  general  features  of  student  life  and  the  gen- 
eral disciplinary  regulations  in  the  Catholic  college 
to-day,  especially  the  boarding  college,  are  very 
different  from  what  they  were  a  generation  or  so 
ago.  Our  colleges  formerly  were,  to  a  great  extent, 
secluded  from  the  world.  Seldom,  and  then  only 
for  a  good  reason,  was  a  student  allowed  to  go 
even  to  the  neighboring  town.    Athletic  games  and 

^he  substance  of  this  Chapter  was  published  in  the 
Catholic  World  for  Jan.,  191 7. 

149 


150  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

contests,  while  never  lacking,  were  restricted  to  the 
college  and  to  those  who  lived  at  the  college.  The 
general  aim  was  to  render  the  college  self-sufficient, 
so  that  the  life,  the  work,  the  recreations  and  the 
interests  of  the  students  would  be  centered  and 
so  far  as  possible  confined  within  its  bounds. 
Besides  seclusion  from  the  world,  simplicity  and 
uniformity  were  aimed  at  in  the  daily  regimen. 
The  students  sat  at  table  in  a  common  dining- 
room,  studied  together  in  the  study  halls,  slept  in 
large  dormitory-rooms  that  were  absolutely  alike 
as  regards  conveniences,  and  made  use  of  common 
wash-rooms,  trunk-rooms  and  recreation  "  yards  "; 
and  all  students,  as  a  rule,  whether  young  or  old, 
rich  or  poor,  fell  under  this  severely  democratic 
regime.  The  system  had  its  advantages,  and  they 
were  many  and  clear.  It  probably  had  its  dis- 
advantages, too,  whatever  may  have  been  their 
relative  importance. 

But  this  traditional  Catholic  college  system, 
which  goes  back  to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  perhaps 
much  farther,  is  no  more.  For  many  years, 
changes  have  been  going  on.  One  cause  of  change 
was  the  establishment  of  dormitories  with  private 
rooms.  Previously,  a  few  of  the  older  students 
here  and  there  may  have  been  allowed  to  live  in 
private  rooms;  but  when,  in  the  year  1888,  Sorin 
Hall  was  erected  at  Notre  Dame  University,  for 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS  161 

the  express  purpose  of  providing  private  rooms  for 
a  large  body  of  students,  a  break  was  made  with 
the  traditional  discipline.  Sorin  Hall,  in  spite  of 
temporary  difficulties,  proved  to  be  a  success,  and 
other  private-room  dormitories  followed  in  time 
at  Notre  Dame  as  well  as  at  other  institutions. 
The  private  room  was  fatal  to  both  the  theory  and 
the  practice  of  uniform  college  life  and  discipline. 
It  did  away,  for  its  occupant,  with  the  common 
sleeping-room  and  study  hall,  the  wash-room, 
trunk-room,  and  the  "  yard,"  and  a  special  code 
of  disciplinary  regulations  had  to  be  formulated 
for  the  "  roomers."  Many  of  the  changes  involved 
were  feared  and  opposed  by  the  more  conservative 
members  of  college  faculties;  but  the  room  system 
proved  to  be  extremely  popular  with  the  students, 
and  brought  an  increase  in  the  college  enrollment. 
Once  it  was  given  a  fair  trial,  it  became  forever 
impossible  to  go  back  to  the  old  system.  As 
private-room  life  was  more  expensive,  a  consid- 
erable body  of  students  in  each  institution  con- 
tinued to  live  and  work  in  the  common  rooms 
under  the  old  discipline,  now  become  less  strict; 
but  the  number  of  these  has  been  relatively  decreas- 
ing. The  demand  is  ever  for  more  rooms,  and  it  is 
evidently  only  a  question  of  time  until  all  the  larger 
boys  at  Catholic  colleges  will  be  living  in  private 
rooms.    Even  the  smaller  colleges  have  joined  in 


152  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

this  movement.  In  many  institutions,  more  than 
one-half  of  the  student  body  is  now  housed  in 
private-room  dormitories. 

After    private    rooms,    intercollegiate    athletics 
has  been,  perhaps,  the  most  important  factor  in 
the  transformation  that  has  been  effected  in  the 
life  and  discipline  of  the  Catholic  college.     Inter- 
collegiate athletics  necessarily  brought  the  college 
into  closer  touch  with  the  outer  world.     The  col- 
lege athletes  went  out  to  play,  accompanied  at 
times  by  crowds  of  other  students;    and  crowds 
from  outside,  made  up  of  the  students  and  alumni 
of  rival  colleges  and  other  athletic  enthusiasts, 
came  in  to  witness  games  on  the  college  campus. 
Money  for  athletic  expenses  had  to  be  raised  from 
business  men  of  the  neighboring  town  or  city,  and 
the  students  were  naturally  expected  to  patronize 
them  in  return.     The  press,  too,  both  local  and 
metropolitan,  found  that  athletic  events  at  the 
college  made  interesting  news-matter  for  its  sport- 
ing pages,  and  its  sporting  pages,  in  turn,  helped 
to  popularize  the  daily  newspaper  at  the  college. 
Many  other  circumstances  of  like  import  might  be 
mentioned. 

Another  important  influence  in  the  same  general 
direction  has  been  the  increasing  tendency  towards 
luxury  and  extravagance  in  American  life.  In  a 
hundred  little  ways  this  spirit  has  crept  into  the 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS       153 

college  from  the  great  world  outside,  and  has 
helped  to  break  down  the  old-time  simplicity  and 
plainness  of  college  life  as  well  as  its  seclusion  from 
the  world.  It  is  unnecessary  to  cite  evidence  of 
this.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  social  inequalities 
brought  about  by  wealth  have  their  reflection,  to 
some  extent,  in  student  life  in  the  Catholic  college, 
as  they  have  in  all  other  American  colleges. 

It  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  fault-finding  that 
these  changes  in  the  life  and  discipline  of  the  Cath- 
olic college  are  adverted  to.  They  were,  in  a  certain 
measure,  inevitable.  Nevertheless,  they  involve 
some  serious  problems  for  the  college,  and  these 
problems  have  not  as  yet  been  completely  solved. 
How  far  are  such  changes  to  be  allowed  to  go? 
In  the  matter  of  intercollegiate  athletics,  for 
instance,  is  it  safe  for  Catholic  colleges  to  adopt  the 
same  attitude  as  those  non-Catholic  institutions 
that  are  known  to  be  most  liberal  in  this  respect? 
Can  the  absence  of  groups  of  students  from  the 
college,  with  their  neglect  of  classes  and  study, 
during  athletic  trips  of  a  week  or  several  days  at  a 
time,  be  a  wholesome  thing  for  the  absentees, 
whatever  may  be  the  effect  upon  the  general  body 
ofstudents? 

"It  is,  indeed,  a  serious  question  as  to  how  far 
cnanges  and  relaxations  in  the  general  discipline 
of  the  Catholic  college  may  be  allowed,  in  view  of 


154  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

the  responsibility  of  the  college  for  the  morals  of 
its  students.  Certainly,  our  colleges  can  never 
accept  the  theory  of  discipline  which  the  president 
of  a  large  non-Catholic  college  in  the  East  pro- 
claimed— to  require  no  more  from  his  students,  in 
matters  of  conduct,  than  is  required  by  the  ordinary 
police  jurisdiction.  The  inculcation  of  Christian 
morality  is  an  inalienable  religious  duty  of  the 
Catholic  parent.  When  the  boy  goes  to  college, 
the  parent's  responsibility  is  transferred  to  the 
president  of  the  college,  but  only  temporarily  and 
conditionally.  Should  the  college  fail  in  its  duty 
in  this  respect,  the  parent  would  be  bound  in  con- 
science to  repair  the  defect,  which  could  only 
mean,  practically,  to  send  the  boy  somewhere 
else.  Such  is  the  unquestioned  teaching  of  Cath- 
olic theology^ 

The  responsibility  of  the  college  for  the  moral 
education  of  the  student  necessarily  involves  the 
obligation  ol  control  and  supervision  in  matters  of 
conduct.  But  how  much  control  and  supervision 
should  there  be?  This  is  not  an  easy  question  to 
decide.  Undoubtedly,  college  discipline  must  take 
into  account  changed  conditions  of  life  in  the  world 
outside  and  the  spirit  of  the  age.  This  much 
may  be  safely  said,  however,  that  our  general  policy 
in  regard  to  discipline  ought  to  be  based  upon  our 
own  educational  traditions,  rather  than  upon  mere 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS       155 

expediency  or  the  example  of  non-Catholic  insti- 
tutions. The  cardinal  principle  of  our  traditional 
discipline  has  been  the  concentration  of  all  the 
student's  active  interests  at  the  college,  in  books 
and  study,  in  necessary  duties  and  wholesome 
recreations.  It  may  not,  perhaps,  be  possible  to 
accomplish  this  as  fully  and  effectively  to-day  as 
formerly,  but  the  principle  itself  is  sound,  and  is, 
in  fact,  only  a  practical  expression  of  the  funda- 
mental purpose  of  the  college.  This  principle 
ought,  therefore,  to  be  maintained  as  a  general 
norm  in  the  regulation  of  discipline,  whatever 
modifications  of  particular  disciplinary  rules  and 
customs  it  may  be  thought  necessary  or  wise  to 
introduce. 

Religion 

The  most  effective  agency  that  can  be  invoked 
for  the  maintenance  of  sound  Catholic  discipline 
in  the  college  is  religion.  Religion  has  always 
been  relied  on  to  keep  students  in  the  path  of  duty; 
in  the  future,  it  will  have  to  be  relied  on  more  than 
ever.  The  traditional  disciplinary  restraints  have 
been  largely  outworn,  and  the  student  is  now 
thrown  more  upon  his  honor,  which  must  mean — 
in  the  Catholic  college  at  least — his  conscience. 
Hence,  with  the  enlargement  of  individual  liberty 
at  the  college,  it  became  necessary  that  there 
should  be  a  corresponding  enlargement,  or  at  least 


156  CATHOLIC  "EDUCATION 

realignment,  of  the  existing  religious  influences, 
in  the  life  of  the  individual  student  as  well  as  in 
the  college  as  a  whole.  For  this  the  new  discipline 
offered  both  the  opportunity  and  the  need. 

Has  this  been  fully  realized  by  college  authori- 
ties? Have  religious  influences  been  quickened, 
and  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the  needs  or 
aspirations  of  the  individual  student?  Has  reli- 
gion maintained  her  place  of  primacy  among  the 
educative  forces  at  work  to  form  mind  and  char- 
acter? It  is  easier  to  ask  such  questions  than  to 
answer  them.  If  they  are  raised  here,  it  is  chiefly 
for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  religion  in  her  traditional  place  of 
first  importance  in  the  work  of  the  Catholic  college. 

It  may  be — as  we  hear  it  said — that  common 
chapel  services  are  not  as  frequent  at  many  of 
the  colleges  as  they  used  to  be,  outside  of  Sun- 
days and  holy-days;  that  the  annual  retreat  is 
not  made  as  much  of,  in  outward  observance,  as  it 
formerly  was;  and  that  the  religious  societies 
elicit  comparatively  less  interest  than  they  once 
did.  But  such  changes  would  not,  of  themselves, 
necessarily  indicate  any  real  lessening  of  religious 
life  or  influences.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain 
that  the  appeal  for  frequent  and  daily  communion 
has  nowhere  had  a  more  generous  response  than 
in  the  colleges.     The  students  who  daily  throng 


INNER   COLLEGE   PROBLEMS  157 

the  altar  rail  in  the  college  chapels  are  a  living 
proof  that  religion  has  lost  nothing  of  its  power 
to  sway  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  young  men. 
The  great  question  is,  are  we  doing  our  utmost  to 
increase  its  power  and  efficacy?  Are  we  planning 
and  striving  in  the  earnest,  anxious  way  we  plan 
and  strive  for  improved  curriculum  and  class- 
work,  to  enlarge  the  place  of  religion  in  the  college 
life  as  a  whole  and  in  the  life  of  each  individual 
student? 

The  most  important  office  in  the  college  is,  in 
some  respects,  that  of  the  prefect  of  religion.  The 
priest  who  is  assigned  to  this  position  should  be 
not  only  distinguished  by  his  piety  and  zeal,  but 
also  possessed  of  those  natural  qualities  of  heart 
which  attract  the  young  and  invite  their  confi- 
dence. He  need  not  be  a  learned  man.  Like  the 
prefect  of  studies,  the  prefect  of  religion  should  be 
free  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  duties  of  his 
office.  He  has  a  general  responsibility  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  hundreds  of  young  men,  who 
are  at  the  very  turning  point  of  their  moral  lives; 
and,  in  addition  to  his  daily  spiritual  ministrations 
and  conferences,  and  the  regular  chapel  services, 
he  has  many  other  things  to  look  after,  such  as 
the  work  of  the  religious  societies  and  those  spe 
cial  exercises  and  devotions  that  are  needed  from 
time  to  time  to  quicken  the  religious  life  of  the 


158  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

college  student.  To  assign  such  an  office  to  a 
busy  teacher,  in  the  expectation  that,  somehow, 
his  zeal  will  enable  him  to  look  after  the  all- 
important  interests  of  religion  during  his  scanty 
free  hours,  is  to  go  far  towards  relegating  religion 
to  an  inferior  place  in  the  life  and  work  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

Much  of  the  time  and  attention  of  the  prefect 
of  religion  might  profitably  be  devoted  to  the  care 
of  priestly  and  religious  vocations.  In  every 
Catholic  college  there  are  a  certain  number  of 
students  whose  piety  and  fervor,  if  rightly  directed, 
will  lead  them  to  the  priestly  or  religious  life.  Our 
colleges  and  universities  have  noble  religious  tra- 
ditions to  sustain.  They  have  had  part  in  the 
training  of  many  of  the  greatest  priests  of  the 
Church — scholastic  philosophers  and  theologians, 
founders  of  religious  orders  and  reformers,  contem- 
platives  and  missionaries.  From  them  have  come 
most  of  the  teachers  who  are  carrying  on  the  work 
of  Christianity  to-day  in  our  institutions  of  higher 
education,  as  well  as  many  of  the  priests  who  are 
engaged  in  spreading  the  Christian  Faith  in  pagan 
lands.  More  than  ever  before,  the  development  of 
such  vocations  in  the  college  is  important  at  the 
present  time.  In  missionary  work,  especially,  a 
great  opportunity  has  arisen  for  the  American 
Catholic   college.    American   priests   are   needed 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS       159 

everywhere  throughout  the  mission  world,  and  our 
colleges  are  called  upon,  by  their  own  traditions 
no  less  than  by  the  exigencies  of  the  general  situa- 
tion, to  take  the  lead  in  meeting  this  demand. 

College  students  who  are  looking  towards  the 
priesthood  form  the  finest  material  for  the  mis- 
sionary vocation.  Their  college  training  is  cal- 
culated to  develop  not  only  high  intellectual 
ability,  but  also  the  most  generous  religious  sym- 
pathies; and — unlike  students  in  the  diocesan 
seminaries — they  are  generally  free  to  devote 
themselves  to  religious  work  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  It  would  be  easy  to  establish  a  missionary 
society  at  every  Catholic  college.  The  purpose  of 
such  a  society  would  be,  to  arouse  interest  in  the 
missions,  both  home  and  foreign,  to  develop  mis- 
sionary vocations,  and  to  collect  material  means 
for  the  work.  The  dues  would  need  to  be  no  more 
than  a  mere  trifle,  say,  five  or  ten  cents  a  month; 
but  considerable  money  might  be  raised  at  times  in 
other  ways.  Certain  college  organizations,  such 
as  the  glee  club,  might  be  asked  once  in  a  while  to 
devote  the  proceeds  of  a  benefit  entertainment  to 
the  cause,  for  many  students  besides  those  expect- 
ing to  enter  the  sacred  ministry  would  take  an 
interest  in  such  a  society.  Catholic  colleges  in 
France  have  long  contributed  regularly  to  the  col- 
lections of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 


160  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Faith,  and  their  students  have  much  less  pocket 
money  than  our  students.  But  the  amount  of 
money  collected  would  not  matter  so  much; 
the  main  object  would  be,  to  call  attention  to  the 
missions  and  their  needs  and  to  develop  the  spirit 
of  generosity  and  self-sacrifice.  The  establish- 
ment of  such  societies  at  the  colleges  would  nat- 
urally lead  to  some  kind  of  a  general  association  of 
the  local  organizations,  with  an  annual  conven- 
tion, where  there  would  be  papers  and  discussions 
on  the  missions,  and  addresses  by  priests  and 
bishops  having  experience  of  real  missionary  life. 
Such  a  movement  could  not  fail  to  produce  most 
important  results  in  furtherance  of  Catholic  mis- 
sionary activity  throughout  the  world,  while,  at 
the  same  time,  it  would  have  a  most  wholesome 
religious  influence  upon  the  colleges  themselves. 

There  are  other  features  of  religious  work  in  the 
colleges  that  call  for  development.  I  shall  men- 
tion only  one  of  these — the  encouragement  of  total 
abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors.  The  Cath- 
olic total  abstinence  society  should  be  regarded  as 
a  religious  society,  and  it  should  be  under  the 
direction  of  the  prefect  of  religion.  The  form  of 
pledge  commonly  employed  involves  a  religious 
act,  the  motive  proposed  being  the  sublime  self- 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  strength  of  such  an  organ- 
ization lies,  not  in  numbers,  but  in  its  religious 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS       161 

spirit,  in  the  examples  it  furnishes  of  noble  Chris- 
tian self-restraint,  and  in  its  assured  support  and 
encouragement  by  the  college  authorities.  There 
are  plenty  of  students  in  every  Catholic  college 
who  are  willing  to  join  such  a  society. 

There  should  be  a  total  abstinence  society  in 
every  college.  A  great  moral  movement,  directed 
against  intoxicating  liquor  and  the  liquor  interests, 
is  stirring  the  country.  The  agitation  may  not  be 
free  from  excesses;  but  it  evidences  the  concern 
of  vast  numbers  of  thinking  men  and  women  about 
the  undoubtable  dangers  of  drink,  especially  to  the 
young.  Are  these  dangers  ever  greater  than  they 
are  in  the  life  of  the  college  student?  Should  not 
every  legitimate  means  be  employed,  in  order  to 
reinforce  the  rule  of  conduct  which  the  college  seeks 
to  inculcate  in  this  respect?  For,  total  abstinence 
is  one  of  the  traditional  rules  of  American  Catholic 
colleges.  How  much  more  effective  will  be  this 
rule,  especially  under  the  present  system  of  en- 
larged personal  freedom,  if  the  principle  of  religious 
self-sacrifice  is  given  prominence  among  the  prac- 
tical motives  for  its  observance!  This  is  what  a 
religious  total  abstinence  society  does.  The  mem- 
bership may  be  small  or  it  may  be  great;  but,  in 
either  case,  such  a  society  represents  a  clear  moral 
asset  for  the  college,  in  its  supreme  work  of  pro- 
moting high-minded  Christian  life. 


162  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

The  Teacher 

Some  of  the  most  vital  problems  involved  in  the 
development  of  the  Catholic  college  or  university 
at  the  present  time  have  to  do  with  the  teacher. 
As  most  of  our  institutions  of  higher  education  are 
conducted  by  religious  orders,  we  may  confine  our 
attention  here  to  teachers  who  are  religious. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  young  religious  for  his 
work  in  the  college,  methods  and  standards  that 
are  entirely  different  from  those  that  once  obtained 
appear  to  be  now  requisite.  Formerly,  a  professor 
was  called  upon  to  teach  branches  of  knowledge 
that  have  little  or  no  direct  relation  to  each  other. 
He  might  have  charge  of  all  the  classes  that  went 
to  make  up  a  year  of  the  classical  course.  His 
daily  work  might  thus  have  to  do  with  subjects 
as  diverse  as  history  and  mathematics,  or  Greek 
and  chemistry.  This  system  still  obtains  in  some 
places,  especially  in  the  preparatory  department. 
It  possesses  certain  advantages,  and  there  could 
be  little  objection  to  it  if  the  teaching  of  each 
branch  could  be  made  thorough.  Whatever  may 
be  thought,  however,  of  the  employment  of  this 
system  in  the  preparatory  department,  its  suc- 
cessful employment  in  the  college  proper  has  be- 
come increasingly  difficult,  if  not  practically  im- 
possible. 


INNER   COLLEGE  PROBLEMS  163 

It  has  never  been  questioned  that,  in  college  work 
at  least,  the  teacher  must  have  acquired  a  thorough 
mastery  of  whatever  he  teaches,  if  he  is  to  achieve 
the  highest  success.  But  to  master  any  impor- 
tant branch  of  knowledge  nowadays,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  make  a  life  study  of  it.  This  applies  even 
to  the  dead  languages,  Latin  and  Greek.  The 
fruits  of  scholarly  research  have  become  so 
abundant  that  it  is  ordinarily  impossible  for  one 
who  spreads  his  attention  over  several  fields  of 
knowledge  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
any  one  of  them.  Hence,  the  college  teacher  must 
be  a  specialist,  which  means  that  he  must  have 
made  a  thorough,  comprehensive  study  of  some 
one  branch  of  knowledge,  as  well  as  some  study  of 
the  cognate  branches.  Only  through  such  a  prep- 
aration can  he  bring  to  his  classes  a  scholarship 
that  will  satisfy  his  students,  and  an  enthusiasm 
that  may  enkindle  in  them  a  living  interest  in  the 
work.  The  training  of  specialists  is  a  function 
of  the  university,  and  only  in  the  university,  as  a 
rule,  can  the  college  teacher  be  properly  prepared 
for  his  work.  The  equivalent  of  university  train- 
ing may,  of  course,  be  furnished  by  the  special  sys- 
tems of  post-graduate  instruction  that  obtain  in 
certain  religious  orders  for  the  preparation  of  their 
teachers,  in  so  far  as  accepted  university  methods 
and  standards  are  employed. 


164  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Catholic  colleges  possess  a  most  important 
advantage  in  respect  to  their  teachers.  Every 
year,  numbers  of  the  brightest  and  best  students 
in  our  schools  and  colleges  join  the  religious  orders, 
and  devote  their  lives  to  college  work.  Many  of 
these  young  men  are  capable  of  attaining  to  the 
highest  scholarship,  and  need  only  to  be  properly 
educated,  to  be  the  equal  of  the  best  professors  in 
the  great  endowed  or  state  universities.  And 
once  they  are  educated,  whatever  may  be  the 
expense  involved,  their  scholarship  is  entirely  at 
the  service  of  the  institution  or  order  to  which 
they  belong,  and  this  for  the  term  of  their  lives. 
In  non-Catholic  colleges  and  universities  the  most 
talented  students  may  be  picked  out  and  educated 
for  professorships  in  their  alma  mater;  but  they 
may  afterwards  be  attracted  to  other  institutions, 
by  the  offer  of  a  higher  salary  or  some  other  ad- 
vantage, just  when  their  services  have  become  of 
special  value. 

The  best  investment  that  the  college  or  religious 
order  can  make,  to  further  its  educational  aims, 
is  the  expenditure  involved  in  the  thorough  training 
of  those  young  religious  who  are  destined  to  be 
professors.  Every  college  teacher  should  have  had 
a  university  training.  A  college  degree  can  no 
longer  be  regarded  as  sufficient  evidence  that  the 
recipient  is  competent  to  teach  subjects  included 


INNER   COLLEGE  PROBLEMS  165 

in  the  college  curriculum;  nor  can  the  study  of 
philosophy  and  theology  in  Latin,  after  the  college 
work  in  the  classics,  be  regarded  as  sufficient 
preparation  even  for  the  teacher  of  Latin.  Such 
views  were  common  enough  formerly,  and  some 
excuse  for  them  could  be  found  in  the  pioneer 
condition  of  many  of  the  colleges.  But  to-day 
they  are  wholly  untenable,  in  view  of  the  generally 
accepted  standards.  This  is  not  less  true  of 
teaching  in  colleges  for  women  than  of  teaching 
in  colleges  and  universities  for  men. 

The  assertion  that  every  college  teacher  should 
have  had  a  university  training,  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  that  every  college  teacher  should  have 
received  a.  full  university  education,  or  should  have 
a  university  degree.  This  would  be  to  demand  the 
impossible.  Various  circumstances  may  prevent 
the  completion  of  university  work,  especially  ill 
health.  But  every  one  destined  to  teach  in  a  col- 
lege should  pass  at  least  a  year  or  two  at  a  uni- 
versity, in  order  to  acquire,  in  addition  to  an 
advanced  knowledge  of  his  specialty,  a  knowledge 
of  the  methods  of  critical  study  and  original 
research.  A  year  or  two  thus  spent  will  open  the 
way  to  further  advanced  study,  and  make  it  pos- 
sible for  him,  with  the  aid  of  time  and  books,  to 
attain  to  riper  scholarship  by  himself.  So  far  as 
possible,  however,  a  complete  university  training 


166  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

should  be  given  to  all  who  are  destined  for  college 
teaching. 

But  the  work  at  the  university  is  not  all.  Even 
after  this  has  been  completed,  the  institution  or 
order  to  which  the  young  religious  belongs  has 
something  more  to  do,  before  its  task  of  preparing 
him  for  his  life  work  can  be  properly  regarded  as 
ended.  It  is  of  the  essence  of  the  training  afforded 
by  the  modern  university  that  the  student  should 
regard  his  work  there  as  but  his  initiation  in  schol- 
arship; and  he  will  be  untrue  to  the  university 
ideal  if  he  is  not  led  on,  by  what  he  has  already  done, 
to  further  and  more  mature  research  work.  For 
this,  time  and  opportunity  are  requisite.  Many 
a  young  teacher,  fresh  from  the  university,  and 
eager  to  continue  his  studies,  finds  himself  so 
heavily  burdened  by  classes  that  he  can  scarcely 
get  time  to  prepare  sufficiently  for  each  class. 
Administration  work,  assigned  to  young  teachers,  is 
no  less  fatal  to  intellectual  growth.  Prefecting, 
which  is  indispensable  in  the  Catholic  college,  is 
another  duty  that  is  apt  to  interfere  seriously  with 
scholarly  ambition. 

No  doubt,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  if  not  im- 
possible, under  present  conditions,  for  college 
authorities  to  avoid  the  assignment  of  such  duties 
to  those  who  have  been  trained  for  the  work  of 
teaching.    However,   conditions  will  be  brought 


INNER  COLLEGE  PROBLEMS       167 

about  in  time,  it  may  be  hoped,  which  will  render 
such  exemption  possible,  and  allow  teachers  more 
time  for  private  study  and  research.  An  increase 
of  priestly  and  religious  vocations,  which  was 
shown  above  to  be  so  desirable  for  other  reasons, 
would  add  more  men  to  the  college  faculties,  and 
thus  diminish  the  amount  of  class  work  assigned 
to  each  member.  It  would  also  furnish  a  larger 
supply  of  men  with  special  capacity  for  adminis- 
trative work.  Furthermore,  some  of  the  students 
who  are  destined  for  the  sacred  ministry  are  ca- 
pable of  making  excellent  prefects,  and,  with  a 
larger  number  of  such  students  to  select  from, 
teachers  might  be  entirely  relieved  of  prefecting 
by  the  institution  of  a  system  of  student  prefects  or 
proctors.  These  possibilities  show  how  intimately 
related  the  problem  of  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  college  is  with  the  even  more  important 
problem  of  its  religious  development. 

One  of  the  best  means  of  inducing  young  teach- 
ers to  continue  their  advanced  studies  is  to  sur- 
round them  with  an  atmosphere  of  scholarship. 
Even  those  who  are  heavily  burdened  by  classes 
can  do  something  in  the  way  of  advanced  study,  if 
they  have  a  real  desire  to  do  so,  or  are  urged  on  by 
the  example  of  others.  At  every  college  there  are 
a  few  men  whose  passionate  devotion  to  knowl- 
edge is  proof  against  almost  any  amount  of  time- 


168  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

consuming  duties.  Such  men,  especially,  should 
be  allowed  all  the  opportunities  that  can  be  given 
them  for  private  study.  Their  scholarly  achieve- 
ments, by  their  influence  upon  the  other  members 
of  the  faculty  and  the  students,  wall  be  worth  far 
more  to  the  institution  than  direct  teaching.  It  is 
through  such  men  that  an  atmosphere  of  intellectu- 
ality is  created,  and  lasting  traditions  of  scholarship 
are  established,  within  an  institution.  A  few 
great  scholars  are  enough  to  make  the  academic 
reputation  of  any  college  or  university. 


CHAPTER  X 
SEMINARIES 

Diocesan  and  Religious  Seminaries 

Ecclesiastical  seminaries  have  always  been  an 
object  of  special  concern  to  bishops  and  religious 
superiors  in  the  United  States,  and  in  no  other 
department  of  Catholic  educational  work  has 
greater  progress  been  effected.1  Following  the 
legislation  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  modern  seminary  system,  our 
plenary  and  provincial  councils  have  labored  to 
perfect  the  American  seminary,  and  to  adjust  its 
work  to  the  special  conditions  of  clerical  life  in  the 
New  World.  By  the  decrees  of  Pius  X  higher 
standards  were  prescribed  for  religious  establish- 
ments in  respect  to  entrance  into  the  seminary 
and  ordination. 

Catholic  seminaries  in  the  United  States  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes,  the  secular  and  the 
religious.  The  former  are  destined  for  the  training 
of  the  secular  or  diocesan  clergy;    the  latter,  for 

1  The  greater  part  of  this  chapter  appeared  in  the  Amer. 
Eccl.  Review  for  Nov.,  1916. 

169 


170  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

the  training  of  the  clergy  of  the  various  religious 
orders.  Secular  seminaries  are  usually  conducted 
by  diocesan  priests,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Ordinary,  although  several  of  them  are  in  charge 
of  religious  congregations.  The  religious  seminaries 
are  conducted  by  members  of  the  religious  bodies 
to  which  such  institutions  belong.  If  an  order 
has  several  provinces,  each  province  usually  has 
its  seminary;  and  in  those  orders  in  which  the 
individual  houses  are  independent,  each  of  the 
larger  establishments  may  have  its  own  seminary. 
The  diocesan  seminaries,  although  greatly  out- 
numbered by  those  of  the  religious  orders,  have, 
in  the  aggregate,  almost  twice  as  many  students 
as  the  latter.  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  Baltimore, 
the  largest  and  oldest  of  the  diocesan  seminaries, 
is  conducted  by  the  Sulpicians,  and  has  over  three 
hundred  students.  The  largest  religious  seminary, 
and  also  the  oldest,  is  the  Jesuit  establishment  at 
Woodstock,  Md.,  with  nearly  two  hundred  stu- 
dents.1 

Preparatory  Seminaries 

Of  late  years,  there  has  been  a  great  increase  in 
the  number  of  preparatory  seminaries,  both  dio- 
cesan and  religious.    Cathedral  colleges  have  been 

1  For  the  number  of  seminaries,  professors,  and  students, 
see  p.  172. 


SEMINARIES  171 

established  in  New  York,  Chicago,  and  several 
other  cities.  The  preparatory  seminaries,  what- 
ever title  they  may  bear,  are  classical  colleges,  and 
their  curriculum,  so  far  as  it  goes,  does  not  differ 
substantially  from  the  classical  curriculum  of  the 
ordinary  college  or  university.  The  chief  differ- 
ence between  the  preparatory  seminary  and  the 
regular  college  lies  in  the  distinctly  ecclesiastical 
purpose  of  the  former,  which,  as  a  rule,  admits 
only  those  who  intend  to  enter  the  sacred  minis- 
try. The  curriculum  of  the  preparatory  seminary 
usually  covers  four  years  of  high-school  work 
and  the  two  lower  years  of  the  college  classical 
course. 

In  establishing  preparatory  seminaries,  where  the 
formation  of  candidates  for  the  sacred  ministry 
may  be  begun  at  the  age  of  twelve  to  fourteen,  the 
Church  in  America  is  but  carrying  out  one  of  the 
most  important  educational  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Trent.1  Conditions  in  this  country  long  ham- 
pered the  development  of  this  feature  of  the  semi- 
nary system,  although  a  few  of  our  preparatory 
seminaries  date  from  a  very  early  period.2  Doubt- 
less, the  future  will  witness  a  further  increase  in 
the  number  of  these  institutions,  which  are  so  well 

1  Cf.  Session  XXIII,  c.  18;  Cf.  Cone.  Bait.  Plen.,  Ill,  n. 

153- 

2  Burns,  Estab.  of  Cath.  Sch,  Sys.  in  U.  S.,  p.  168  seq. 


172 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 


calculated  to  develop  vocations  to  the  priesthood, 
and  to  foster  the  true  ecclesiastical  spirit. 

These  two  aims  of  the  preparatory  seminary  are 
of  special  importance  for  the  religious  orders. 
Coming  less  in  contact  with  the  people  than  the 

Seminaries  l 


Seminaries. 

Professors. 

Students. 

21 

462 

178 
291 

2282 
1394 

Total 

67 

469 

3676 

Preparatory  Seminaries 

1 

11 

23 " 

141 
186 

17273 
1734 

Total 

34 

327 

346i 

1  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  Catholic  Directory  for  1913. 

2  Representing  21  religious  orders. 

3  Not  including  the  preparatory  seminary  at  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

4  Representing   16  religious  orders.      A   number  of  these  institutions  receive 
students  preparing  for  diocesan  seminaries. 

diocesan  clergy,  the  former  are  at  a  certain  disad- 
vantage in  securing  vocations.  It  might  seem  that 
this  disadvantage  would  be  offset  by  the  fact  that 
they  have  charge  of  most  of  the  colleges.  But  the 
colleges,  if  we  except  those  conducted  by  the  Jes- 
uits, do  not  supply  vocations  enough  for  the  re- 
spective novitiates,  and  most  of  the  religious  orders 


SEMINARIES  173 

have,  therefore,  found  it  necessary  to  establish 
preparatory  seminaries.  Some  of  the  larger  orders 
have  two,  and  several  of  them  have  three,  prepara- 
tory seminaries. 

Some  of  the  smaller  colleges  are  practically  pre- 
paratory seminaries,  as  most  of  their  students  are 
candidates  for  the  priesthood.  However,  when 
such  institutions  are  listed  as  regular  colleges,  they 
are  not  included  in  the  preceding  table,  which 
shows  the  number  of  seminaries  and  preparatory 
seminaries,  both  diocesan  and  religious,  together 
with  the  number  of  their  professors  and  students, 
in  the  United  States  in  the  year  191 5. 

Government  and  Discipline 

Religious  seminaries  are  governed  according  to 
the  discipline  and  spirit  of  their  respective  orders; 
professors  and  students,  being  members  of  the  same 
religious  family,  are  thrown  together  a  great  deal, 
outside  of  what  might  be  called  their  professional 
relations.  Much  the  same  family  spirit  prevails 
in  the  diocesan  seminaries.  The  importance  of 
this  feature  of  seminary  life,  for  the  formation  of 
priestly  and  religious  character,  needs  no  emphasis. 
In  the  seminary,  as  in  the  college,  the  professors 
share  in  the  government  of  the  institution,  as  re- 
gards classes  and  instruction.  The  discipline  is 
in  charge  of  the  rector  and  his  assistants. 


174  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

The  specific  aim  of  seminary  discipline  is  the 
thorough  spiritual  formation  of  the  candidate  for 
the  priesthood,  and  to  this  end,  besides  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Sacraments,  there  are  appropriate 
ascetical  exercises  for  the  seminarian — daily  med- 
itation and  prayer,  daily  spiritual  reading  or  in- 
struction, spiritual  direction,  special  devotions,  the 
practice  of  silence  at  certain  times,  and  other 
acts  of  mortification  and  virtue.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  enlarge  upon  the  work  of  the  seminary 
along  these  fines,  for  it  is  substantially  the  same 
in  all  well-regulated  institutions,  and  is  grounded 
upon  the  laws  and  traditions  of  the  Church.1 

Length  of  the  Curriculum 

The  entrance  requirements  for  admission  to 
seminaries  in  the  United  States  were  prescribed 
by  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  and 
involve  the  completion  of  the  work  of  the  pre- 
paratory seminary.  This,  as  has  been  noted,  covers 
four  years  of  high  school  work  and  the  two  lower 
years  of  the  college.  Unfortunately,  it  is  often 
found  difficult  to  adhere  to  this  standard  in  prac- 
tice, especially  in  the  case  of  those  who  begin  their 

1  Cf.  Rev.  P.  Dissez,  S.S.,  On  the  Formation  in  Seminaries 
of  Candidates  to  the  Holy  Priesthood;  and  Rev.  W.  F.  Likly, 
CM.,  Aim  and  Method  of  Spirtinal  Training  in  the  Seminary 
{Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  1906). 


SEMINARIES  175 

preparatory  studies  rather  late  in  life,  and  yet 
afford  evidence  of  a  true  vocation  to  the  priesthood. 
Such  vocations  are  not  infrequent.1 

The  length  of  the  curriculum  of  the  diocesan 
seminary  was  definitely  fixed  by  the  Third  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore:  "In  all  seminaries  the 
course  of  study  shall  embrace  not  fewer  than  six 
years,  two  of  which  shall  be  devoted  to  the  study 
of  philosophy  and  four  to  that  of  theology." 2 
In  the  recent  legislation  enacted  at  Rome  for 
seminaries  of  religious  orders  throughout  the 
world,  practically  the  same  length  of  time  was 
prescribed.  Thus,  in  the  decree  "  Auctis  Ad- 
modum"  Nov.  4,  1893,  it  was  declared  that  the 
study  of  theology  should  occupy  four  full  years, 
after  the  completion  of  the  regular  curriculum  of 
"  other  studies."  These  "  other  studies "  were 
denned  by  the  Congregation  for  Religious  in  the 
"  Declarationes  circa  Articulum  Sextum  Decreti 
'  Auctis  Admodum?  "  dated  Sept.  7,  1909: 

The  theological  student  does  not  fulfill  the  legal  require- 
ments if  he  has  not  previously  gone  through  a  full  course 
of  philosophical  studies  or  studies  of  the  lyceum;  the  same 

1  Cf.  Very  Rev.  E.  R.  Dyer,  S.S.,  The  Intellectual  Require- 
ments for  Entrance  into  the  Seminary,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath. 
Ed.  Assn.,  VI,  p.  449  seq.;  also,  Secretary's  Report  on  same 
in  ib.  p.  447. 

2  Cone.  Plen.  Bait.,  Ill,  n.  166. 


176  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

is  true  of  the  philosophical  student,  if  he  has  not  completed 
the  regular  curriculum  of  humanities  or  studies  of  the 
gymnasium;  nor  will  the  student  of  humanities  be  qualified 
legally  if  he  has  not  had  a  primary  education.  Therefore, 
in  order  to  pass  legitimately  from  the  primary  schools  to 
the  gymnasium,  from  the  gymnasium  to  the  Lyceum,  and 
from  the  lyceum  to  the  theological  seminary,  certificates 
are  required  which  testify  to  successful  tests  or  examina- 
tions.1 

In  testimonial  letters  for  the  ordination  of 
religious,  superiors  are  bound  to  testify  to  the 
completion  of  the  studies  of  the  theological  semi- 
nary, and  the  years  of  study  covered  by  this  cer- 
tificate must  be  full  academic  years.  Doubling  up 
or  shortening  of  courses  is  forbidden,  and  vacation 
study  is  not  to  count. 

Several  questions  suggest  themselves  in  regard 
to  the  meaning  and  scope  of  this  legislation.  First 
of  all,  how  would  the  academic  standards  that  are 
enjoined  be  formulated  in  terms  of  our  American 
educational  system?  The  "  gymnasium "  and 
the  "  lyceum  "  do  not  exist  among  us.  We  may 
know  something  of  the  German  gymnasium  and  the 
French  lycee,  but  Americans  are,  with  few  excep- 
tions, unfamiliar  with  the  Italian  system  of  edu- 
cation. At  the  end  of  this  Chapter,  there  will  be 
found  a  diagram,  showing  in  detail  the  relations 
between  the  American  and  the  Italian  educational 
1  Cf.  Amer.  Eccl.  Rev.,  Vol.  41,  729  seq. 


SEMINARIES  177 

systems.    It  will  suffice,  for  our  present  purpose, 
to  outline  briefly  these  relations. 

Let  it  be  supposed  that  an  Italian  boy  and  an 
American  boy  commence  primary  school  work  at 
the  beginning  of  their  seventh  year.  After  five 
years  of  study,  or  at  the  beginning  of  his  twelfth 
year,  the  Italian  boy  passes  into  the  gymnasium, 
where  he  takes  up  the  study  of  Latin.  Only  three 
years  later,  or  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  does  the  Amer- 
ican boy  enter  the  high  school  and  take  up  Latin. 
The  latter  is  thus  three  years  behind  the  former, 
in  beginning  Latin  and  other  secondary  studies. 
This  is  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  differences 
between  the  two  systems,  so  far  as  we  are  now 
concerned.  After  spending  five  years  in  the  gym- 
nasium, the  Italian  boy  begins  the  three-year 
course  of  the  lyceum  or  of  the  philosophical  depart- 
ment of  the  seminary.  The  graduate  of  the 
lyceum,  if  he  is  to  be  a  priest,  is  then  expected  to 
devote  a  year  to  "  propedeutics,"  or  special  prep- 
ation  for  theology.  He  would  thus  finish  the 
four  years'  course  of  theology  at  the  end  of  his 
twenty-fourth  year.  The  American  seminarian, 
after  passing  through  high  school  and  college,  is 
generally  obliged,  if  he  goes  to  a  diocesan  seminary, 
to  spend  a  year  in  the  philosophical  department 
of  the  seminary  in  preparing  for  theology,  which  he 
would,   therefore,  finish  only  at  the  end  of  his 


178  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

twenty-seventh  year.  If  he  were  to  attend  a 
preparatory  seminary  instead  of  a  college,  he 
would  save  this  extra  year  of  preparation  for 
theology.  It  may  be  noted  that  the  obligation  of 
military  service  usually  postpones  ordination  in 
Italy  for  a  year. 

The  Italian  boy  studies  Latin  during  the  five 
years  of  the  gymnasium  and  the  three  years  that 
follow  in  the  lyceum,  making  eight  years  of  Latin 
in  all;  the  American  boy  studies  Latin  during 
seven  or  eight  years — four  in  the  high  school  and 
three  or  four  in  the  college,  but,  in  the  aggregate, 
he  has  not  as  many  class  hours  in  Latin  as  the 
former  has.  On  the  other  hand,  the  American 
student  devotes  more  time  to  Greek  than  does  the 
Italian.  In  Italy,  Greek  is  begun  in  the  fourth 
year  of  the  gymnasium,  and  is  continued  through 
the  lyceum  and  the  year  of  "  propedeutics  "  (if 
the  latter  is  taken).  This  makes  five  or  six  years 
of  Greek  in  all.  The  American  student  usually 
begins  Greek  in  the  first  or  second  year  of  the  high 
school,  and  continues  it  until  towards  the  end  of  the 
college  course,  thus  giving  from  six  to  eight  years 
to  this  study.  As  for  philosophy,  it  is  begun  by 
the  Italian  student  in  the  first  year  of  the  lyceum, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  continued  for  three  or 
four  years,  while  in  the  American  college  philos- 
ophy is  usually  taken  during  the  three  upper  years 


SEMINARIES  179 

of  the  college  course.  In  Italian  state  Lyceums, 
only  two  hours  a  week  are  allotted  to  philosophy; 
but  students  who  are  to  go  to  a  seminary  are 
expected  to  have  two  or  three  hours  a  week  more 
in  philosophy  during  their  lyceum  course;  and 
besides  this,  five  hours  a  week  are  to  be  devoted 
to  philosophy  during  the  year  of  "  propedeutics." 
On  the  whole,  much  more  time  is  given  to  the 
study  of  philosophy  in  Italy  than  here.1 

Suppose,  now,  that  a  candidate  for  a  religious 
order  in  this  country  is  considerably  above  the 
ordinary  age  when  he  begins  secondary  studies — 
and  this,  as  has  been  said,  is  very  often  the  case; 
may  the  curriculum  in  high  school  or  college  be 
lawfully  abbreviated  in  his  behalf?  This  ques- 
tion does  not  appear  to  be  definitely  decided  by 
the  "  Declarationes."  As  quoted  above,  the  Decree 
evidently  implies  that  the  entire  pre-theological 
course  of  studies  in  other  countries — including 
elementary  branches,  humanities  and  philosophy 
— will  be  practically  equivalent  to  the  entire 
pre-theological  course  in  Italy.  But  this  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  the  one  must  cover 
exactly  the  same  length  of  time  as  the  other.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  this  period  is  three  years  longer 
here  than  it  is  in  Italy,  because  we  give  three 
years  more  to  the  elementary  branches. 
1  See  diagram  at  the  end  of  Chapter. 


180  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

Again,  many  of  our  preparatory  seminaries 
devote  but  six  years  to  the  classics,  after  which  the 
student  passes  to  the  philosophical  department  of 
the  seminary,  where  there  is  no  formal  study  of 
either  Latin  or  Greek.  Is  this  in  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  the  new  lav/?  or,  is  it  requisite 
that  Latin  be  studied  for  eight  years,  as  in  Italy? 
The  "  Declarationes  "  does  not  explicitly  prescribe 
eight  years'  study  of  Latin,  nor  does  such  an 
obligation  appear  to  be  necessarily  implied.  The 
Decree  clearly  requires  that  the  candidate  for  the 
priesthood  complete  the  entire  regular  curriculum. 
But  in  this  country  we  have  two  regular  classical 
curricula,  so  far  as  Latin  is  concerned.  The 
classical  curriculum  of  the  preparatory  seminaries 
requires  but  six  years  of  Latin,  while  that  of  the 
colleges  requires  seven  or  eight  years  of  Latin. 
There  is  good  reason  for  maintaining  that,  as 
regards  Latin  at  least,  the  six  years'  curriculum 
is  fully  equivalent  to  the  eight  years'  curriculum, 
because  of  the  special  attention  given  to  the  study 
of  this  language  during  the  shorter  period. 

There  are  two  changes  that  might  be  made  in 
our  educational  system,  in  order  to  smooth  the 
way  that  leads  to  the  seminary.  The  first  would 
be,  to  increase  the  amount  of  time  devoted  to 
Latin  during  the  earlier  years  of  its  study,  with  a 
corresponding  diminution  of  the  time  given  to  it 


SEMINARIES  181 

later  on.  The  Italian  boy,  even  in  the  govern- 
ment schools,  gives  seven  class  hours  a  week  to 
Latin  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  gym- 
nasium, and  only  three  hours  a  week  to  it  in  the 
lyceum.  This  arrangement  would  allow  more 
time  in  our  colleges  for  the  all-important  study  of 
philosophy.  The  change  could  easily  be  made  by 
giving  an  extra  Latin  class,  during  the  earlier 
preparatory  years,  to  boys  who  expect  to  enter  the 
seminary. 

Another  helpful  change  would  be,  the  introduc- 
tion of  Latin  into  the  seventh  or  even  the  sixth 
grade  of  the  parish  schools.  Distinguished  non- 
Catholic  educators  have  long  been  urging  the 
advisability  of  pupils  beginning  the  study  of  the 
languages  at  an  early  age,  and  in  many  public 
schools  they  are  now  taught  in  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades.  It  would  be  easy  to  introduce  a 
class  of  Latin  into  the  seventh  grade  of  every  large 
parish  school,  for  there  are  always  pupils  in  such 
a  school  who  would  be  willing  to  study  Latin. 
In  this  way,  the  time  now  required  for  the  com- 
pletion of  high  school  and  college  work  might  be 
cut  down  by  two  full  years.1 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  curriculum  in  American  sem- 
inaries as  compared  with  that  in  Italian  seminaries,  cf. 
the  paper  by  Rev.  H.  J.  Heuser,  in  Ann.  Report  Cath.  Ed. 
Assn.,  X,  p.  455. 


182  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

New  Studies 

There  is  a  tendency,  in  the  larger  and  more 
progressive  seminaries,  to  shift  certain  studies 
back  to  the  two  years  of  philosophy,  whenever  this 
can  be  done  without  prejudice  to  the  theological 
curriculum.  For  instance,  a  preliminary  outline 
study  of  Sacred  Scripture  is  now  made  in  some 
institutions  before  theology  is  begun,  with  the 
view  of  rendering  the  course  of  Scripture  in  the 
department  of  theology  more  advanced  and  thor- 
ough. The  same  is  true  of  Church  history,  as 
well  as  Hebrew  and  Biblical  Greek.  In  some 
seminaries,  the  study  of  English  is  continued  in 
the  department  of  philosophy.1 

This  policy  prevents  the  theological  curriculum 
from  becoming  overcrowded,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
makes  room  in  it  for  new  studies  that  may  be 
needed  in  the  seminary.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  pedagogy,  and  social  and  political 
science.     It  is  clear  that  every  priest  who  stands 

1  Cf.  Very  Rev.  P.  R.  Heffron,  The  Four  Years'  Course  in 
Theology,  in  Ann.  Report  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.  for  1906,  p.  211  seq.; 
also,  Rev.  F.  P.  Siegfried,  The  Department  of  Philosophy  in 
the  Seminary,  in  ibid.,  X,  p.  481  seq.;  Very  Rev.  E.  R.  Dyer, 
S.S.,  The  Intellectual  Requirements  for  Entrance  into  the 
Seminary,  in  ib.,  VI,  p.  449;  and  papers  by  Rev.  J.  C. 
Herrick  and  Rev.  G.  V.  Leahy,  on  Science  in  the  Seminary, 
ib.,  VI,  p.  455  seq. 


SEMINARIES  183 

at  the  head  of  a  parish  school  ought  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  science  and  the  art  of  teaching.1  It  is 
equally  clear  that  the  pastor  who  labors  in  the 
city  needs  to  have  some  knowledge  of  social  and 
political  science — a  knowledge  "  which  will  be 
sufficiently  extensive  to  make  him  acquainted  with 
the  vital  facts  of  current  social  and  economic  con- 
ditions, tendencies  and  doctrines;  which  will  be 
sufficiently  stimulating  to  give  him  a  lasting  inter- 
est in  these  phenomena;  and  which  will  be  suf- 
ficiently thorough  to  enable  him  to  deal  intelli- 
gently, justly,  and  charitably  with  the  practical 
situations  that  he  will  be  compelled  to  face."2 
In  the  larger  seminaries,  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  arrange  for  a  course  of  weekly  lectures  on  ped- 
agogy, as  well  as  a  course  of  lectures  on  social  and 
political  science,  by  competent  professional  men 
from  outside.  In  several  seminaries,  something 
has  already  been  done  in  this  way.  Such  lectures, 
if  followed  up,  in  the  class  of  moral  or  pastoral 
theology,  by  a  further  study  and  application  of 

1  Cf.  Rev.  E.  P.  Duffy,  The  Teaching  of  Pedagogy  in  the 
Seminary,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  II,  p.  238;  also 
papers  by  Very  Rev.  E.  A.  Pace,  Rev.  F.  J.  Von  Antwerp 
and  Rev.  F.  V.  Corcoran,  CM.,  on  The  Seminary  and  the 
Educational  Problem,  in  ibid.,  VIII,  p.  470  seq.;  Cf.  also 
Resolutions  of  Seminary  Dept.  in  ib.,  p.  468. 

2  Rev.  John  A.  Ryan,  The  Study  of  Social  Problems  in  the 
Seminary,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn.,  V.,  p.  450. 


184  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

the  principles  set  forth,  should  add  scarcely  any- 
thing to  the  burden  of  regular  seminary  work, 
while  they  would  be  of  direct  value  for  the  future 
work  of  the  priest,  and  would  probably  lead  to 
much  fuller  knowledge  of  these  subjects  later  on. 

In  every  diocese  there  should  be  at  least  one 
priest  who  can  write  Latin  fluently  and  correctly, 
if  not  elegantly.  There  is  necessary  correspond- 
ence between  the  diocesan  chanceries  and  Rome; 
and  much  of  this,  being  of  an  official  character,  has 
to  be  in  the  official  language  of  the  Church.  The 
courses  of  Latin  in  our  colleges  and  preparatory 
seminaries  do  not  afford  this  facility  in  Latin 
writing,  even  in  the  case  of  the  more  clever  stu- 
dents; hence  the  need  for  some  supplementary 
training  in  Latin  during  the  years  of  philosophy  or 
theology.  It  has  been  suggested  that  this  need 
could  best  be  met  by  having  a  special  class  in  the 
seminary  for  a  year  or  two — to  be  attended  by 
select  students — for  advanced  study  of  Latin 
style  and  for  practice  in  Latin  composition. 

Seminary  and  College 

A  very  important  question  has  arisen  with  regard 
to  the  relations  of  the  seminary  and  the  college. 
It  might  be  thought  that  their  work  would  be  so 
coordinated  that  the  college  student  who  desires 
to  be  a  priest  would  be  able  to  pass  into  the  sem- 


SEMINARIES  185 

inary  after  getting  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  and  begin 
the  study  of  theology  at  once.  This  is  not,  how- 
ever, the  case.  The  college  graduate,  after  study- 
ing philosophy  for  two  years  or  two  years  and  a 
half  in  the  college,  is  obliged  to  spend  at  least  one 
year  more  in  the  philosophical  department  of  the 
seminary,  before  being  admitted  to  theology. 
A  year  is  thus  lost  by  the  candidate  for  the  sacred 
ministry  who  makes  his  collegiate  studies  in  a 
regular  college,  rather  than  in  a  preparatory  sem- 
inary and  the  philosophical  department  of  a  major 
seminary.  This  condition  constitutes  a  serious 
disadvantage  to  the  college,  all  the  more  so  because 
many  believe  that  the  four-year  college  course  itself 
is  too  long,  and  unduly  retards  the  entrance  of  the 
young  man  upon  his  professional  career,  whether  it 
be  that  of  lawyer,  physician  or  clergyman. 

The  effect  of  this  condition  will  be,  to  keep  many 
prospective  clerical  students  from  attending  the 
college,  and  to  cause  others  to  leave  it  after  the 
Sophomore  Year  and  enter  the  philosophical 
department  of  the  seminary.  But  would  this  be  a 
bad  thing?  Might  it  not  be  better,  for  both  college 
and  seminary,  if  this  were  generally  done?  College 
men  do  not  think  so.  They  are  anxious  to  enroll 
as  many  candidates  for  the  seminary  as  possible, 
not  only  because  such  young  men  make  excellent 
students,   but  also   because   their  influence   and 


186  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

example  tend  to  elevate  the  moral  and  religious 
life  of  the  entire  student  body.  The  diversion  of 
such  students  to  other  institutions  would,  there- 
fore, involve  a  serious  loss  to  the  colleges.  More- 
over, there  are  some  young  men  who  remain  more 
or  less  in  doubt  about  their  vocation  until  towards 
the  end  of  the  college  course;  and  there  are  some 
who  do  not  appear  to  be  able  to  make  up  their 
minds  definitely  about  the  matter  until  after  they 
have  graduated  and  left  the  college.  It  is  likely 
that  the  colleges  will  always  contain  a  certain 
number  of  future  seminarians,  whatever  may  be 
the  requirements  of  the  seminary. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  strong  reasons  for 
the  attitude  that  has  been  assumed  by  the  semina- 
ries. The  college  courses  in  philosophy,  being  in- 
tended mainly  for  students  who  are  to  be  laymen, 
are  not  usually  as  comprehensive  and  thorough  as 
the  courses  in  philosophy  in  the  seminary.  Further- 
more, there  are  certain  pre- theological  studies  given 
in  the  seminary  which  the  college  student  misses 
entirely,  notably,  Scripture  and  Church  history. 
Finally,  there  is  the  spiritual  training  necessary 
for  the  seminarian,  and  for  this,  it  is  maintained, 
the  four  years  of  theological  studies  are  not  suf- 
ficient. Many  seminary  authorities  hold  that, 
even  apart  from  the  question  of  studies,  the  neces- 
sity of  this  thorough  spiritual  training  would  alone 


SEMINARIES  187 

constitute  sufficient  reason  for  requiring  college 
graduates  to  spend  at  least  one  year  more  in  the 
seminary,  before  they  begin  the  study  of  theology.1 
In  the  executive  and  advisory  boards  of  the 
Catholic  Educational  Association,  this  lack  of 
coordination  between  the  work  of  the  seminary 
and  the  work  of  the  college  has  been  frequently 
discussed.  A  representative  committee,  which  had 
been  appointed  to  consider  the  problem,  met  dur- 
ing the  annual  convention  of  the  Association  at 
St.  Paul,  in  the  summer  of  1915,  but  was  unable 
to  agree  upon  any  plan  that  would  eliminate  the 
difficulties  involved.  After  the  discussions  of  this 
joint  committee,  the  Seminary  Department  unan- 
imously adopted  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that 
college  graduates  should  not  be  admitted  to  first- 
year  theology  without  their  making  at  least  one 
year  more  of  philosophy  in  the  seminary,  even 
though  they  had  already  made  two  years  of  phil- 

1  Cf.  the  discussion  of  this  question  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Cath.  Ed.  Assn.  at  St.  Paul  in  191 5,  in  Ann.  Rep.  C.  E.  A., 
including  papers  by  Rev.  J.  P.  O'Mahoney,  C.S.V.  and 
Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  J.  B.  Peterson,  on  Relations  between  Cath. 
Seminaries  and  Cath.  Colleges,  from  the  respective  stand- 
points of  the  college  and  the  seminary;  also,  papers  by  Rev. 
Bernard  Feeney,  Where  Clerics  are  to  Study  Philosophy, 
and  Rev.  F.  V.  Corcoran,  CM.,  The  Need  of  a  peculiarly 
Ecclesiastical  Intellectual  Training  covering  a  Longer  Period 
than  the  Course  of  Theology  in  the  Seminary. 


188  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

osophy  in  the  college.1  From  this  it  is  evident 
that  further  progress  in  the  settlement  of  the 
question  will  depend  upon  the  colleges.  The 
position  of  the  seminaries  is  fixed,  and  their  con- 
tention appears  to  be,  in  substance  at  least,  en- 
tirely reasonable.  To  meet  their  legitimate  de- 
mands, the  colleges  must  provide  special  courses  in 
philosophy  and  certain  other  studies,  and  a  special 
system  of  discipline  and  spiritual  training,  for 
those  students  who  are  looking  forward  to  the 
priesthood. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  consider  in  detail  how  these 
changes  might  best  be  made;  but  they  are  evi- 
dently not  impossible.  Why,  for  instance,  should 
not  young  men  who  have  a  vocation  to  the  priest- 
hood be  placed  together  in  a  separate  hall,  under 
seminary  rules?  This  is  done  at  some  European 
universities.  Why  should  not  the  college  or  uni- 
versity offer  for  their  special  benefit — without 
excluding  other  students — courses  in  scholastic 
philosophy  and  Hebrew,  and  outline  courses  in 
Church  history  and  Scripture?  These  courses 
would  strengthen  the  college  curricula.  The 
courses  in  scholastic  philosophy,  if  given  in  Latin, 
would  render  it  unnecessary  for  these  students  to 

1  Cf.  Summary  of  joint  discussion,  and  Resolutions  of 
Seminary  Dept.,  at  St.  Paul,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Cath.  Ed.  Assn., 
i9i5>  P-  5^  seq. 


SEMINARIES  189 

continue  the  Latin  classics,  and  they  would  thereby 
gain  more  time  for  philosophy.  With  such  pro- 
visions for  the  special  care  of  prospective  clerical 
students,  the  colleges  could  probably  arrange  to 
have  them  admitted  at  once,  after  graduation, 
into  the  theological  department  of  the  seminaries. 
And  such  provisions  would  be  very  likely  to  attract 
prospective  clerics  in  larger  number  to  the  colleges. 

Equipment  and  Support 

The  improvement  of  buildings  and  equipment, 
which  has  been  so  important  a  feature  of  the 
progress  of  Catholic  education  during  the  past 
two  decades,  has  been  especially  marked  in  the 
case  of  the  seminaries.  The  new  Kenrick  Semi- 
nary at  St.  Louis,  and  the  archdiocesan  seminaries 
of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  St.  Paul  and 
San  Francisco  are  worthy  of  particular  mention  in 
this  connection,  as  are  also  the  new  religious  estab- 
lishments that  are  so  impressively  grouped  about 
the  Catholic  University  at  Washington.  In  many 
other  instances,  where  there  has  not  been  a  com- 
plete reconstruction  of  the  seminary  plant,  notable 
changes  have  been  effected,  including  the  erection 
of  new  buildings  or  the  extension  of  old  ones, 
improved  sanitary  and  cuisine  arrangements,  and 
additions  to  the  library  and  its  equipment.  Sim- 
ilar reconstructions  or    improvements  have  been 


190  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

made  at  the  preparatory  seminaries.  The  con- 
veniences and  comparative  comforts  enjoyed  by 
the  seminarian  to-day,  contrasted  with  his  con- 
dition a  generation  or  two  ago,  when  there  was  an 
almost  complete  absence  of  anything  ministering 
to  comfort,  have  raised  a  question,  especially  in 
the  minds  of  some  of  the  older  clergy,  as  to  whether 
the  tendency  towards  material  improvement  is  not 
being  carried  too  far.  Their  fear  is  that  the  newly 
ordained  priest,  coming  out  from  these  fine  modern 
establishments,  may  not  have  had  sufficient  oppor- 
tunity for  the  practice  of  self-sacrifice  and  morti- 
fication, so  essential  to  true  priestly  life  and  work. 
There  is,  undoubtedly,  a  real  danger  here;  but, 
on  the  whole,  it  is  plain  that  the  improvement  of 
the  seminaries  on  the  material  side  represents 
genuine — one  might  add,  necessary — progress,  and 
that  the  danger  apprehended  may  be  effectively 
met  by  means  that  are  always  readily  at  hand. 

With  the  exception  of  St.  Paul  Seminary,  which 
was  endowed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  J.  Hill,  the 
seminaries  are  dependent  upon  the  diocesan  col- 
lections for  their  support.  Here  and  there  burses 
have  been  established,  and  special  funds  secured; 
but,  in  general,  the  expenses  are  defrayed  from  the 
yearly  offerings  of  the  faithful.  Students  from 
other  dioceses  who  attend  a  diocesan  seminary  are 
supported  by  their  respective  bishops.     The  charge 


SEMINARIES 


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192  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION 

for  such  seminarians  varies  somewhat  throughout 
the  country,  but  is  usually  about  $200  per  annum. 
It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  this  is  barely  sufficient 
to  cover  the  actual  cost  of  the  student's  main- 
tenance. In  some  seminaries  it  is  not  sufficient, 
and  the  balance  has  to  be  gotten  from  other  sources. 
Religious  seminaries  are,  of  course,  supported  by 
the  respective  religious  orders. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Parish  Schools  of  the 
Diocese  of  Albany.     1913-1916. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Parish  Schools  of  the 
Diocese  of  Newark.     1910-1916. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Parish  Schools  of  the 
Archdiocese  of  Philadelphia.     1895-1916. 

Burns,  Rev.  James  A.,  Ph.D.  The  Principles,  Origin,  and 
Establishment  of  the  Catholic  School  System  in  the  United 
States.    New  York:  Benziger  Bros.,  1908,  pp.  416. 

Burns,  Rev.  James  A.,  Ph.D.  The  Growth  and  Develop- 
ment of  the  Catholic  School  System  in  the  United  States. 
New  York:  Benziger  Bros.,  191 2,  pp.  421. 

Catholic  Citizens  and  Public  Education.  New  York:  Cath- 
olic Book  Exchange,  1902,  pp.  32. 

Catholic  Directory.  Annual.  New  York:  P.  J.  Kenedy  & 
Sons. 

Catholic  Educational  Association,  Annual  Reports  of.  1904- 
1916. 

Catholic  Educational  Association,  Quarterly  Bulletins  of . 
1904-1916. 

Coler,  Bird  S.  Socialism  in  the  Schools.  New  York: 
The  Eastern  Press,  191 1,  pp.  22. 

Coler,  Bird  S.  The  Residuary  Sect.  New  York:  The 
Eastern  Press,  191 1,  pp.  19. 

Commissioner  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  G,  Annual 
Reports. 

193 


194  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Howard.  Rev.  Francis  W.,  D.D.  The  Catholic  Position  in 
Education,  pp.  12. 

An  address  delivered  before  the  Protestant  Ministers 
of  Columbus,  O.,  Feb.  7,  1910. 

Pace,  Very  Rev.  Edward  A.,  Ph.D.  The  Influence  of 
Religious  Education  on  the  Motives  of  Conduct.  Re- 
printed from  Proceedings  of  the  N.  E.  A.,  1903,  pp. 
346-350. 

Pace,  Very  Rev.  Edward  A.,  Ph.D.  Modern  Psychology 
and  Catholic  Education.  Reprinted  from  Cath.  World, 
Sept.,  1905,  in  Educational  Briefs,  Phila.,  1905,  pp.  22. 

Shields,  Rev.  Thomas  Edward,  Ph.D.  The  Education  of 
Our  Girls.    New  York:  Benziger  Bros.,  1907,  pp.  299. 

Shields,  Rev.  Thomas  Edward,  Ph.D.  Philosophy  of 
Education.  Washington:  The  Catholic  Education 
Press,  191 7,  pp.  446. 

Stuart,  Janet  Erskine.  The  Education  of  Catholic  Girls. 
New  York:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1911,  pp.  243. 

Tierney,  Rev.  Richard  H.,  S.  J.  Teacher  and  Teach- 
ing. New  York:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  191 5,  pp.  178. 

Year  Book  of  the  Superintendent  of  Catholic  Schools,  Arch- 
diocese of  St.  Louis.    1911, 1912. 


INDEX 

Academic  standards  in  Catholic  education,  7,  8. 

Administrative  work  in  college,  166,  167. 

Age  of  high  school  pupil,  105. 

American  and  Italian  schools  compared,  1 77-181,  191 

Ascetical  exercises  in  seminaries,  1 74. 

Assessments  for  maintenance  of  high  schools,  100. 

Athletics  in  Catholic  colleges,  152. 

Austerity  in  college  life,  149,  150. 

Belgians,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 
Benedictine  colleges,  147. 
Bible  reading  in  public  schools,  15,  16. 
Biblical  Greek,  study  of,  182. 
Bibliography,  193-194. 
Bishops,  influence  of  the,  62,  63. 
Bohemians,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 
Boys,  high  schools  for,  58,  88,  89. 

classification  of  high  school,  108,  109. 

teaching  Brothers  for,  88,  89. 
Business,  women  in,  119. 

Cahill,  Thomas  E.,  58. 

Carnegie  Foundation,  report  of,  102. 

Cathedral  colleges,  170,  171. 

Catholic  College  Conference,  58,  130. 

Catholic  education,  academic  standards  in,  7,  8. 

for  foreigners,  1. 

qualifications  of,  6-12. 

195 


196  INDEX 

Catholic  education,  religious  influence  in,  6,  21-29,  3&-39>  45_47> 
155-166,  174. 

statistics  of,  2-6,  127,  130,  131,  172,  191. 

teaching  standards  in,  10-12,  43,  44,  68-75. 

unity  in,  60-65. 
Catholic  Educational  Association,  admittance  of  college  women 

to,  133- 

college  investigation  of,  126,  139,  187. 

high  school  reforms  of,  52,  124. 

school  time  reforms  of,  79,  80,  107,  108. 

work  of,  59,  60,  61. 
Catholic  educational  problems,  discussion  of,  59. 
Catholic  ethics,  simplicity  of,  27,  28. 
Catholic  Girls'  High  School,  113,  114- 
Catholic  professors,  service  of,  142,  143,  162-164. 
Catholic  pupils  in  non-Catholic  institutions,  3,  4,  75,  91,  92, 

112,  114,  130-132. 
Catholic  textbooks,  38. 
Catholic  University,  growth  of,  136. 

maintenance  of,  142,  143,  146. 

scholarships  to,  134. 

seminaries  of,  189. 

summer  school  at,  11,  12. 
Cavanaugh,  Rev.  John  W.,  C.S.C.,  47  (note). 
Central  high  schools,  58,  93,  94,  96. 

cost  of,  99-101. 
Changes  in  Catholic  college  life,  149-155- 
Character  formation  in  Catholic  schools,  43-47« 
Christian  Brothers'  colleges,  147. 

schools  of,  1 01. 
Christian  symbols  in  school,  42,  43. 
Christian  teaching  in  schools,  18,  19,  21-25,  28,  29. 
Church  history  study  in  seminaries,  182. 
Classes,  size  of,  73,  74- 
Classical  college  courses,  117,  171. 
Classification  of  colleges,  141. 


INDEX  197 

Classification  of  boys'  schools,  108,  109. 

of  girls'  schools,  115. 

of  seminaries,  169,  170. 
College  relations  with  seminary,  184-189. 
College  scholarships,  93,  134,  146. 
Colleges,  classification  of,  141. 

curriculum  in,  138-141. 

discipline  in,  149-155. 

dormitories  for,  150-152. 

endowments  for,  142-144,  146. 

enrollment  in,  3,  5,  123,  124,  126-132. 

entrance  requirements  for,  89,  90,  139,  140. 

for  women,  119,  120,  123,  124,  132,  133. 

intellectual  growth  in,  166-168. 

moral  training  in,  154,  155. 

organization  of,  48-50. 

preparation  of  pupils  for,  49,  51,  52,  89-93,  123,  124,  136-138. 

religious  influence  in,  43-47,  155-161. 

religious  orders  in,  43,  48,  49,  142,  147. 

seminary  courses  in,  188,  189. 

statistics  of,  3,  127,  130,  131. 

teaching  standards  in,  43,  147,  162-168. 

total  abstinence  in,  160,  161. 

vocations  in,  158-160. 
Community  inspector  of  schools,  67. 
Community  training  courses,  11,  70-73. 
Commercial  study  for  girls,  115,  121. 
Compulsory  education  laws,  85. 
Correlation  of  studies,  34,  35,  78. 
Cost  of  Catholic  colleges,  142-147. 

of  high  schools,  97-101. 

of  parish  schools,  12. 

of  professional  schools,  135. 
Council  of  Trent,  decrees  of,  169,  171. 
Creeds,  teaching  of,  15. 
Creighton  University,  endowment  of,  146. 


198  INDEX 

Crucifix  in  school,  42,  43,  45. 
Cultural  studies  for  girls,  11 5-1 17. 
Curriculum,  content  of,  76-78. 

correlation  of  studies  in,  32-41,  78. 

in  boys'  schools,  101-104. 

in  girls'  schools,  115-117,  121-125. 

length  of,  78-80,  104-110. 

of  preparatory  seminary,  171. 

of  seminary,  174-184. 

reformation  of,  104-110. 

religious  teaching  in,  36,  37. 

standardization  of  college,  138-141. 

time  problem  in,  78-87. 

Diocesan  high  schools,  58. 
Diocesan  school  board,  67,  69,  70,  71. 
Diocesan  school  system,  57,  66-68. 
Diocesan  seminaries,  170. 
Discipline  in  colleges,  140-155. 

in  seminaries,  173,  174. 
Domestic  science  in  high  schools,  121,  122. 
Dormitories  for  colleges,  150-152. 
Dwenger,  Bishop  Joseph,  57. 
Dyer,  Rev.  E.  R.,  S.S.,  175  (note),  182  (note). 

Elective  courses,  138,  139,  145. 

Elementary  schools,  relation  of  high  schools  to,  48-54,  93-97. 

statistics  of,  2. 
Endowments  of  Catholic  institutions,  141-144,  146,  190. 
Engineering  students  in  college,  127,  128. 
English  in  high  schools,  104. 

in  seminaries,  182. 
Enrollment  in  colleges,  3,  5,  127-133. 

in  elementary  schools,  2,  3,  83,  84. 

in  secondary  schools,  2,  3,  4,  in. 
Enrollment  statistics,  2-6,  83,  84,  in,  127,  130,  131,  132. 


INDEX  199 

Entrance  requirements  for  colleges,  89,  90,  139,  140. 

for  seminaries,  174-176,  185-189. 
Equipment  in  Catholic  schools,  7. 

of  seminaries,  180-192. 
Ethical  system,  simplicity  of  Catholic,  27,  28. 
Examination  of  teachers,  69,  70,  71. 

Federal  Bureau  of  Education,  report  of,  107. 

Foreigners,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Formal  studies,  76,  77. 

Fourth  Provincial  Council  of  Cincinnati,  57. 

Free  high  schools,  113,  114. 

French,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Future  life,  instruction  as  to,  22,  23. 

Germans,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 
Girls,  diocesan  schools  for,  58. 

high  schools  for,  111-115. 

life  work  of,  preparation  for,  120,  124,  125. 
Government  of  seminaries,  173. 
Greek  in  high  schools,  90,  104. 

in  seminaries,  178. 
Greeks,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Habits,  formation  of,  17. 

Hebrew,  study  of,  in  seminaries,  182. 

Herbart,  35,  37. 

High  schools,  assessments  for,  100. 

cost  of,  97-101. 

curriculum  in,  101-104,  115-117,  120-125. 

preparation  for  college  in,  49,  51,  52,  89-93,  123,  124. 

relations  of,  with  parish  schools,  51-54,  93-97. 

religious  orders  in,  48,  52,  58,  88,  89,  94,  95,  115. 

specialization  in,  1 21-125. 

statistics  of,  2,  3,  5. 

teachers  in,  52,  58,  88,  89,  115. 


200  INDEX 

High  Schools,  time  problem  in,  1 04-110. 

Hill,  James  J.,  190. 

History  in  high  schools,  104. 

Holy  Cross  College,  gift  to,  63. 

Howard,  Rev.  Francis  W.,  81  (note). 

Hughes,  Bishop,  15,  16. 

Hungarians,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Indians,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Intellectual  growth  of  teachers,  166-168. 

Ireland,  Archbishop,  18. 

Italian  and  American  schools  compared,  177-181,  191. 

Italians,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

James,  William,  34. 

Jesuit  colleges,  147. 

Jesuit  seminary,  1 70. 

Junior  colleges,  137,  138,  141. 

Junior  and  senior  high  schools,  106,  107,  109,  no. 

Kenrick  seminary,  189. 

Knights  of  Columbus  scholarships,  134. 

Languages  in  high  schools,  104. 

in  parish  schools,  181. 
Latin  composition,  study  of,  184. 
Latin  in  high  schools,  89,  90,  104. 

in  parish  schools,  181. 

in  seminaries,  177,  178,  180,  181. 
Law  schools,  135. 

Lecture  courses  for  Catholic  educators,  61,  183. 
Life  work,  preparation  of  girls  for,  120,  124,  125. 
Lithuanians,  Catholic  edication  for,  1. 
Luxury  in  college  life>  152,  153. 

McDevitt,  Rt.  Rev.  Philip  R.,  14  (note),  58  (note),  68  (note) 
80,  87  (note),  97  (note). 


INDEX  201 

Maintenance  of  colleges,  142-147. 

of  high  schools,  97-101,  113. 

of  parish  schools,  12-14,  56. 

of  professional  schools,  135. 

of  seminaries,  189-192 
Manual  training  schools,  101. 
Marquette  University,  endowment  of,  146. 
Mathematics  in  high  schools,  104. 
Medical  schools,  135. 
Milwaukee  Convention,  59. 
Missionary  societies  in  colleges,  159,  160. 
Missionary  vocations  in  college,  158,  159. 
Montessori,  Maria,  theory  of,  31. 
Moral  training  in  colleges,  154,  155. 

in  Catholic  schools,  17,  21-28. 

in  public  schools,  16-19,  28,  29. 
Morality  and  religion,  unity  of,  24,  25,  27-29. 

Neumann,  Bishop  John  Nepomucene,  57. 

Non-Catholic  colleges,  Catholic  enrollment  in,  91,  92,  130-132. 

Normal  training  for  Catholic  schools,  n,  12,  69-73,  I29- 

Notre  Dame,  University,  dormitory  for,  150,  151. 

Nuns  as  teachers,  58,  88,  89. 

Overcrowding  in  parish  schools,  73,  74. 

Pace,  Rev.  Edward  A.,  40  (note),  183  (note). 
Parish  assessments  for  high  schools,  100. 
Parish  high  schools,  97,  98. 
Parish  schools,  curriculum  in,  75-83. 

establishment  of,  48. 

Latin  in,  181. 

maintenance  of,  12-14,  56. 

overcrowding  in,  73,  74. 

relation  of,  to  college,  60,  61. 
to  high  schools,  48-54,  93~97- 


202  INDEX 

Parish  schools,  religious  orders  in,  10-12,  74,  75. 

teachers  in,  68-75. 
Pastor,  influence  of  the,  60-62,  67. 
Paternalism  in  public  schools,  31,  32. 
Pedagogy,  study  of,  61,  182,  183. 

Philosophy,  study  of,  in  seminaries,  178,  179,  181,  185-189. 
Pius  X.,  Pope,  decrees  of,  169. 
Poles,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 
Political  science,  study  of,  182,  183. 
Post-graduate  courses  in  colleges,  134. 
Prefect  of  religion  in  college,  157,  158. 
Preparatory  seminaries,  170-173. 
Preparatory  students  in  college,  127,  136,  137. 
Priesthood,  vocations  to,  159,  172. 
Pritchett,  Dr.  Henry  S.,  102. 
Private  rooms  in  Catholic  colleges,  150-152. 
Professional  courses  in  colleges,  128,  135. 
Professional  students  in  college,  127. 
Professions,  women  in  the,  119. 
Professors  in  Catholic  colleges,  142,  143. 
Propagation  of  the  Faith,  Society  of,  159,  160. 
Propedeutics,  study  of,  177,  178,  179. 
Protestant  influence  in  public  schools,  15,  16. 
Protestant  religious  instruction,  10-20. 
Public  high  schools,  curriculum  of,  102,  103. 
Public  schools,  Catholic  pupils  in,  3,  4,  75,  112,  114. 

moral  training  in,  16-19,  28,  29. 

religious  instruction  in,  15,  16,  29. 

teaching  standards  in,  9,  10. 
Pupils,  influence  of  the,  44,  45. 

Reading  list,  193,  194. 

Religion  and  morality,  unity  of,  24,  25,  27-29. 

Religious  communities  in  Catholic  education,  1,  11,  58,  62,  7°-73> 

88,  142,  169,  170. 
Religious  community  in  high  schools,  94,  95. 


INDEX  203 

Religious  influence  in  Catholic  education,  6,  21,  22,  36-38,  45-47, 

155-161,  174. 
Religious  instruction  in  public  schools,  15,  29. 

omission  of,  from  studies,  40,  41. 
Religious  orders  in  colleges,  43,  49,  142,  147. 

in  seminaries,  172,  173,  192. 
Religious  seminaries,  1 70. 

spirit  in,  173,  174. 

St.  Mary's  Seminary,  170. 

St.  Paul's  Seminary,  190. 

Sage  Foundation,  investigation  by,  83. 

Salaries  of  college  professors,  145,  146. 

of  high  school  teachers,  98,  99. 
Scholarship  in  college  life,  167,  168. 
Scholarships  in  Catholic  colleges,  93,  134,  146. 
School  attendance,  problem  of,  83-87. 
Schumacher,  Rev.  Matthew  A.,  C.S.C.,  141  (note). 
Science  in  high  schools,  104. 
Scriptural  studies  in  seminaries,  182. 
Secondary  schools,  see  High  Schools. 
Sectional  high  schools,  96. 
Secular  seminaries,  1 70. 
Seminaries,  classification  of,  169,  170. 

curriculum  in,  length  of,  175-181. 

equipment  of,  189-192. 

government  and  discipline  of,  173,  174. 

maintenance  of,  189-192. 

new  studies  in,  182-184. 

relation  of,  to  colleges,  184-189. 

statistics  of,  172. 
Seminary  rules  in  colleges,  188,  189. 
Senior  high  schools,  1 06-1 10. 
Sex  instruction,  25,  26,  31. 
Shahan,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  J.,  24. 
Shields,  Rev.  Thomas  E.,  34  (note),  38  (note). 


204  INDEX 

Six  and  six  high  school  plan,  106. 

Slovak  Sisterhood,  i. 

Slovaks,  Catholic  education  for,  i. 

Social  science,  study  of,  182,  183. 

Sorin  Hall,  150,  151. 

Spaniards,  Catholic  education  for,  1. 

Specialization  in  girls'  education,  121-125. 

Statistics  of  Catholic  institutions,  2-6,  127,  130,  131,  172,  191. 

Studies,  correlation  of,  32,  3$,  78. 

in  high  schools,  101-104,  120-125. 

in  parish  schools,  75-78. 

in  seminaries,  174-189. 
Sulpicians'  seminary,  170. 

Summer  courses  for  Catholic  teachers,  11,  12,  129. 
Sunday  schools,  20,  21,  39. 

Teachers,  duties  of  college,  166,  167. 

examination  of,  70,  71. 

influence  of,  42-44,  147,  148,  162-165,  167,  168. 

in  colleges,  43,  147,  162-168. 

in  high  schools,  88,  89,  115. 

in  parish  schools,  68-75. 

intellectual  growth  of,  166-168. 

preparation  of,  11,  69-72,  129,  162,  163. 

salaries  of  high  school,  98,  99. 

statistics  of,  2. 

university  training  for,  ir,  12,  129,  165,  166. 

women  as,  8,  9,  88,  89,  118. 
Teaching  Brothers  for  boys,  89. 
Teaching  communities,  1,  n,  58,  62,  70-73,  88. 
Teaching  staff,  104. 
Teaching  standards  in  Catholic  schools,  10-12,  43,  44,  68,  69. 

in  college,  43,  147,  162—168. 

in  public  schools,  9,  10. 
Theology  in  colleges,  135. 

in  seminaries,  177. 


INDEX  205 

Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  56,  57,  66,  69,  70,  71,  174, 

175- 
Time  problem  in  Catholic  schools,  78-87. 

in  seminary  curriculum,  1 76-181. 
Total  abstinence  in  colleges,  160,  161. 
Trinity  College,  132,  136. 
Tuition  fees  in  college,  144. 

in  girls'  high  schools,  113. 

Unity  in  Catholic  education,  60-65. 

of  morality  and  religion,  24,  25,  27-29. 
University,  development  of,  133-135. 

maintenance  of,  142-147. 

teaching  in,  147,  148. 
University  training  for  teachers,  n,  12,  129,  165,  166. 

Vocations  in  college,  158. 
in  seminaries,  172. 
to  teaching  communities,  62,  75,  89. 

Waldron,  Brother  John,  68  (note),  70  (note),  79  (note),  82  (note). 
Women  as  teachers,  8,  9,  88,  89,  118. 

colleges  for,  119,  120,  123,  124,  132,  133. 

in  the  commercial  world,  119. 

in  the  professions,  119. 
World's  Sunday  School  Convention,  21. 

Xaverian  Brothers'  School,  101. 


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